You have your demons, and I have mine
by MojoTheSpaceMonkey
Summary: Naruto appears in the world of Berserk at the age of 4 with no memories. Raised as Guts's brother, how different can the story turn out when someone has your back in a world where everything is out to kill you?
1. Chapter 1

You Have Your Demons and I Have Mine

Chapter 1

"You know, you really have to learn to slow down. I won't always be there to look after you, little brother." Guts growled to himself as he raised his head out of the mud. He wiped the mud off of his visor so he could properly see, scowling up at his older brother who stood protectively over him. Mercenaries thundered by on both sides of them, on their way up to the castle they were hired to assault. The battering ram had just broken through the gate, and it was time to earn their money. Guts had positioned himself at the front of the charge to ensure he got enough kills, only to be tripped from behind after only a few steps forward.

"Fuck you Naruto, I would have been up in there already if it wasn't for you." Guts knew he didn't have the brains that his older brother Naruto did, but it didn't take a genius to storm a castle. He pushed himself out of the mud, turning to his brother and stood on his toes to give him the height needed to look Naruto straight in his eyes. "You want this just as bad as I do."

Naruto smacked his younger brother upside the head as he looked to the sky in exasperation. "I know I've taught you better than this. You see how the archers on the walls are facing inwards now? Now we can go without getting shot before we reach the wall. Let those poor fools tire themselves out for a bit before we go in and start gutting them. You know damn well you'd tire out too fast, swinging that sword around like you do. It's as tall as you are." He grabbed Guts by the shoulders and forced him around to face the castle, before he slapped him on the back and took off running towards the battle. "Hurry up little brother" he called over his shoulder, "or there won't be anything left for you."

Guts hurried after the blonde, but his brother was too quick for him. By the time he made it to the melee, Naruto was nowhere to be seen. Guts noticed that the fighting had come to a standstill as the middle of the courtyard was being held by a giant armored man with an equally huge battle axe. Several bodies in various states of dismemberment already lay in a circle around him. The noble in charge of the assault was trying to marshal his men forwards, but no one wanted to be the first one to step up after seeing the slaughter. Appealing to the honor and sense of duty meant nothing to a mercenary army who would work for whomever had the coin. Guts recognized the desperation that the man was in as his assault was falling apart around him, and managed to weasel an additional promise of 7 gold coins from him if he could kill the giant Bazuso.

The crowd parted as Guts walked towards the giant, every eye in the castle watching the spectacle as people strained to listen. Bazuso was a showman, and knew the value of psyching out his opponent. He barely started his speech though before Guts was upon him. The teenager's sword was so large and heave, that his initial assault was able to push Bazuso off balance. The giant barely got his axe up in time to block a huge overhead strike from Guts, only to bring his axe down to stop the next strike to his side. As the teen readjusted his footing after his failed attack, the giant took the moment to go on the offensive. His first strike was met head on with Guts's sword. Their weapons' meeting point knocked a chip out of Bazuso's axe and sent hairline fractures up through the rest of it. The giants next strike was a roundhouse blow aimed at Guts's head. Guts made a split section decision to ignore the strike from the damaged weapon and put all his strength into a mid level swing at his opponent. The axe struck Guts's helmet and split in half, pieces of the weapon flying everywhere like shrapnel while his helmet was sent flying, the chinstrap unable to take the strain put on it. Guts's strike hit home, carving through Bazuso's armor, deep into his side. Bazuso fell to his knees, unable to hold up his weapon any longer. His last sight was Guts moving in for an overhead strike, which caved in his helmet and skull as it struck home.

Naruto paid attention to the battle out of corner of his eye as he scaled the side of the castle wall using his various cracks in the stonework caused by the earlier bombardment. He stealthy hoisted himself up into the hoarding, the wooden walkway attached to the side of the upper walls. He had spied helmets with plumage sticking out of them peeking over the rails and decided to investigate while everyone was distracted. He had hit pay dirt with his hunch. The general of the opposing army, as well as the local lord and his castilian were watching his brother's duel with a few guards. Naruto silently drew a long dagger with his left hand, while his right held onto a black hand axe. He would be needing stealth to pull this off perfectly, so his longsword would remain sheathed for now. Both of the guards had been standing a few steps back from their lord in a show of respect. This had set them up perfectly to receive a slit throat each, before being soundlessly lowered to the ground.

The three remaining occupants of the hoarding were all leaning out of the windows now to watch the climax of the fight below, groaning as it looked like their champion was heading towards defeat. Naruto stepped forwards and grabbed the lord's hair, pulling it back and exposing the neck which soon received two quick stabs. The action was noticed by the general, who turned to confront the intruder while reaching for his sword. Naruto was ready for him though, and put his foot on the general's sword hand, trapping it against the hilt and stopping him from withdrawing his weapon. The look of disbelief on the general's face was ended in a flash as naruto plunged his dagger up to the hilt through the man's eye and into his brain. The castilian had taken off running the moment he saw the fight, and had made it halfway down the wooden path before Naruto's thrown axe appeared in the back of his head. Naruto retrieved his weapons, cleaning them off on his victims' clothing, before he drew his sword for the next part of his job.

The holdfast on the other side of the courtyard also held an audience for Guts's fight below. A crew of mercenaries carefully watched the fight with the critical eye of fellow fighters. "It looks like the other side has some great ones too, right Griffith?" questioned one of mercs. They were all mesmerized by the battle below them

The commander being addressed was a thin young man with pale skin and snow white hair pouring out the bottom of his hawk shaped helmet. He had glanced briefly at the duel below, but kept his eye trained on the assassination of his employers across the way by the single blonde man. He felt no need to ward them, seeing as how his mercenary band had already been paid, and the castle was clearly lost. "The castle is done for" he addressed his men. "Let's get out while we can." Everyone began to file towards the back of the castle, mad that their side had lost, but still proud of the fact that they had earned their pay.

The temporary peace at the end of the battle was coming to an end. Both sides knew that they needed to re-engage their enemy if they hoped to win today. "They're weak now" shouted the noble leading the assault. "Cut them down and end it!" He spurred his horse for effect, though it was marginalized due to him being at the back of his men.

"We lost Bazuso, but we can still win this men!" shouted one of the defenders. They still had the advantages of their fixed defences and the high ground after all. Guts lowered himself into a defense position. He was still in the middle of the open space from his duel, and would be the first one to re-enter the fight. The defenders began to move towards him, eager to avenge their champion.

"NO!" a voice echoed from above them, causing everyone to halt in their tracks again. Naruto knew he needed to act fast to save his little brother from being mobbed. He leaned out of the holdfast, holding the three severed heads of the lord, general, and castilian by their hair out for all to see. "Your castle is lost, and your leaders are dead. You have nothing left to fight for. Surrender now!" He tossed the heads down to the middle of the courtyard for added effect, watching as they rolled to the feet of the front line of defenders who were staring in horror. There was a pause as they contemplated their situation before the first man threw down his polearm. Once the sound of it hitting the ground was heard, a cacophony followed as the rest of the defenders disarmed to a man. A cheer rose up from the invaders as they realized that the battle was over and they were victorious.

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Guts watched as his older brother tossed a bag full of 50 gold in the air while they walked. They had cashed out and left the mercenary army after the campaign had ended and were on their way to the capitol to try and find a new contract. He once again tried to figure out in his head just how Naruto and he could end up so different when they were raised exactly the same. He knew they weren't really brothers, but they had been raised together under Gambino after his wife had taken them in. Guts had been picked up as a baby from under the corpse of mother after she had been hung in a tree while pregnant. Gambino's wife Shisu had taken him in to replace her child that she had miscarried earlier.

When he was 3, they had found Naruto. There had been a flash of light and an explosion one night. Gambino and his men had rushed through the forest to a clearing to find what looked like a blast site with flames licking the edges of the field. Narutos 4 year old body was found lying in a crater that had been so hot that the ground had fused into something glass like. Shisu had adopted him as well after he had been taken back to camp to heal. Naruto had no memories from before the blast besides his name.

Shisu had fallen ill and died when Guts was 4, leaving him and Naruto at the tender mercies of Gambino. The mercenary leader blamed Guts for his wife's death due to her finding him as a baby under his dead mother. He was considered a bad omen. Gambino knew better than to throw away potential recruits though and officially adopted them into the mercenary band. He proceeded to train them into the ground daily, toughening them up as quickly as possible. Guts had started out with a sword way to big for him, but was too stubborn to admit he couldn't handle it. This lead to him developing a style of his own revolving around working with massive blades and a crossbow to back it up when needed. Naruto on the other hand, had concentrated on speed and dodging, with the necessary strength to back it up. He would rather use a different type of weapon in each hand when possible, to allow him more flexibility in the battlefield. Where Guts would act like a berserker, wading headfirst into battle until it had ended, Naruto believed in surgical strikes where you cut off the head of the enemy and let the body die. The brothers complimented each other's strengths and covered for each other's weaknesses. Gambino encouraged this as it meant he had to spend less time babysitting them on the battlefield.

It also made the two nearly inseparable though. One night Gambino had been heavily drinking and had sold Guts for the night to the pediphile of their group, Donovan, a large brutish man. Guts had been gathering water for his tent when he was blindsided and dragged off. He woke up in Donovan's tent naked, with the big mean looming over him telling him what his fate for the night would be. Naruto had been out searching to Guts after he hadn't returned, and heard his brother's cries for help. He rushed into the tent, only to find Donovan about to mount his brother. In a fit of rage, Naruto pulled his dagger plunged it into the man's neck, then pushed him off of his brother. The rest of the mercenaries had heard the commotion and surrounded the tent. They were confused to see Guts leave the tent wrapped in a blanket until Naruto followed after him with his dagger still dripping blood. He took one look at them and stated plainly "Anyone who lays a finger on my brother will die by my hand." His voice was cold, but the men could have sworn that his eyes had flashed red for a moment. No one stepped up to confront them on the issue, so the boys continued back to their tent leaving the mercenaries to argue over how to deal with Donovan's body.

Gambino lost his leg in a skirmish a few days after Guts's 8th birthday. The brothers officially became the bread winners of their house while Gambino spent his time drinking heavily and playing with a dog he had adopted while they were on the road. Naruto would receive praise for his accomplishments, but nothing Guts did was worth anything but scorn. It was up to Naruto to encourage Guts and let him know he was doing well.

Then one day, Guts returned from the battlefield with an extra reward for killing the enemy leader. Gambino ignored this completely and struck Guts in the face with his crutch for not getting meat for his dog. Naruto watched this happen from the tent's entrance, knowing that things would soon come to a head. That night, Gambino's pain became too much. His life was worthless without his wife and without his leg. He decided he had to end the reason for his suffering and attacked Guts that night. Naruto had been having a bad dream, and had woken up with a start to find Gambino laying on top of a bruised Guts with a sword sticking out of his neck. The room reeked of alcohol, blood, and death. A fire had started when the lamp lighting the tent had been knocked over. Naruto took all this in, then grabbed Guts's hand and pulled him outside. Naruto climbed up on Gambino's horse and pulled Guts up in front of him, before taking off into the night.

They had only made it a short ways before the rest of the mercenary band was upon them, looking for vengeance for their slain leader. Naruto was shot with a crossbow bolt, having it travel through his side, and into Guts who sat in front of him. They fell from the horse, into the ravine that they had been riding next to. The mercenaries gave up the chase at that point knowing the boys were near death, and not willing to risk injury going down the steep slope in the dark.

Naruto had used his body to cushen Guts during the fall, and had been knocked out. The bolt had torn free from Guts but still remained in his body. Gut's shakily raised himself to his feet, still holding Gambino's sword and trying to recognize his surroundings. He noticed movement in the distance, only to discover a pack of wolves had tracked the scent of blood to him and Naruto. Guts stood over his brother's body, sword raised and waiting for the wolves to strike. The pack leader threw itself at Guts only to be impaled on his sword, taking them both to the ground. Guts was barely able to push the dead body off of him and get back up in time to sill the next wolf that had moved in to take a bite of Naruto's leg. A few minutes later, the wolves were dead, their blood steaming in the cold night air as Guts collapsed next to his brother, passing out utterly exhausted from his flight, and subsequent fight. A traveling mercenary band noticed their bodies a few hours later and made the decision to rescue the boys to see if they had the potential to become fighters later on.

'That was almost 4 years ago' Guts reflected to himself as they walked. He couldn't believe how fast time had passed for them since then. He was 13 years old now, standing at 5'2, with a large body and developed muscles due to growing up on the battlefield and using his oversized sword. Hiis nose had a large scar running across it courtesy of Gambino on the night he escaped, and he kept his black hair cut decently short to avoid it interfering with his fighting. He had upgraded it over the years to ensure that its size grew to match his body's growth as well. Using a smaller sword now just felt wrong. His brother Naruto had just turned 14, being a few months older than him. He was 5'5 now and had a body nearly as developed as Guts now, with a focus on speed instead of power. His long blond locks poured down to frame a perpetually smiling face with faint whisker marks on his cheeks. No one ever asked about their origin and they were widely assumed to be birthmarks. Guts thought they made his brother look like a fox.

Their heads both perked up and as they heard a horse whinny from a hill to their left. They seen any riders yet so they continued on at a quick pace, hoping to put some distance between themselves and whatever group was near them.

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Corkus was plotting again. The last contract that he and his men had participated in paid well enough for a simple castle defense. Unfortunately it ended too soon for his tastes. Now he was still short on money to pay the debts he had accrued getting his armor upgraded and needed another option before he was blackballed by the blacksmith and armorer guilds. He could always ask Griffith for a loan from the treasury, but his pride had taken enough of a hit already without admitting he couldn't handle his own finances.

As if the Gods were providing an answer to his prayers, he saw two travelers on the road below them. They looked well armed, but nothing a team of 10 or so men couldn't handle. He took a moment to further examine his prey, only to grow even more giddy. He called his men over and pointed down at the road. "Look, it's the guy who killed Bazuso yesterday! He must have gotten a reward for the kill. I bet his pockets are well-lined."

His team was getting psyched up enough to ride with him, when one of the newer guys decided to pour water on the fire. "I don't know" he said. "That guy managed to drop a 20-manslayer like it was nothing, and the blonde down there is the one who annihilated our sides leadership. I don't think it's worth the risk." Just like that 4 of the 10 men with him stepped back and headed back to the rest of the group.

Corkus knew he needed to act fast to save face and make sure he wasn't going to end up running the attack solely by himself. "We can handle them fine guys. You three will separate the blonde away while we finish off the other one. We'll join you afterwards if you need help." The men nodded at this, and mounted up. Corkus ignored Casca's faint chuckling, knowing that he couldn't afford to get drawn into an argument that would make him lose more face at this point. He started the charge down the hill, slowing his horse enough to let the brasher members of his group get a lead.

Naruto observed the 7 riders charging them while Guts took the moment given to get in a battle stance. He saw the leader fall back somewhat and grinned to himself. 'I see someone else subscribes to my battle methods' he thought. 3 of the riders had split off to attack Guts directly. Naruto watched as brother killed the first rider with a slash to the side and took the arm off the second one. He watched another rider break from the group to try his luck with the blonde instead. Naruto sighed to himself at the amature tactics while drawing his dagger and throwing it through the visor of the attacker and burying it in his nasal cavity.

The rest of the men looked ready to cut and run at this point and Corkus knew he had to lead the next attack himself to keep them there. He spurred his horse at Naruto seeing how the blonde hadn't retrieved his dagger, and didn't possess any more of them. Naruto slowly drew his handaxe while assessing the distance of the enemy rider. When the horse was about 10 lengths away, Naruto drew back and hurled his axe into the horse's neck, making it crash forward and hurling its rider into the air. Corkus came crashing down and slid on his belly to stop at Naruto's feet. He rolled over with a groan and looked up to see a pair of blue eyes looking at him with both amusement and a promise of violence. Naruto moved to draw his sword, only to jump back as an arrow flew into the space his head had just occupied. He looked up to see a pretty boy in white armor, a female raider, and a 8 foot tall man built like a brick shithouse all bearing down on him and his brother. "You know we're going to need to separate to avoid getting overwhelmed" Naruto said to Guts. "Whoever gets the 2 on 1 battle will just try to stay alive until the other can help him." Guts nodded to the idea, before sprinting across the road to wait for the attack.

The pretty boy broke off to follow Guts, his eyes focused like a bird of prey on its next meal. Naruto didn't have anymore time to watch though as he parried the woman's strike, only to need to duck under the mace strike from the big man before he could capitalize. He maneuvered until the woman's horse was in between himself and the giant, then blocked her next strike with a single hand, leaving his other arm free to strike a nerve on her thigh where the armor ended. With her leg deadened, she was unable to maneuver her horse and still swing her sword effectively. Naruto was able to yank her from her horse in the next round of strikes, pulling her back to his chest with an arm around her waist while he held his sword to her throat. The giant had immediately stopped allowing Naruto to glance towards his brothers fight, only to find Guts passed out on the ground with the pretty boy kneeling over him. The raider was staring a hole through Naruto while he kept his sword at Guts's neck.

No one moved as they each tried to find a way out of the situation without being placed in a worse position. Naruto knew time was his enemy in this and decided to take the initiative. "My name is Naruto, and that is my brother Guts, who you are kneeling on. I'd like to know the name of the man I'm speaking with."

The white haired man nodded at the request. "My name is Griffith and I'm the leader of the Band of the Hawk. You are holding my second in command Casca at the moment." Naruto rose an eyebrow at this, not realizing the true value of his hostage until now. His attention returned to the conversation as Griffith continued. "I'd like to propose a temporary truce for the time being. I need to attend to my men, and your brother has a hole opened up near his heart that needs attending to before he bleeds out. We can continue this after we have recovered. I'll offer up my medics to help treat him if you'll allow it. He has impressed me greatly and I don't want to see his life wasted."

Naruto knew there was more to it than that simple explanation, but the longer he waited, the worse Guts became. He lowered his sword and pushed Casca forward get some distance from the angry woman. She wheeled around, ready to continue the fight, only to have the giant grab her and throw her over his shoulder. He nodded to Naruto and spoke slowly and deeply. "I'm Pippin. Grab your brother and i'll show you the way to the medical tent." Naruto threw Guts over his shoulder and hustled after Pippin towards the white tent in the middle of the camp.

Guts was out for 2 days, his body going into a mild case of shock due to blood loss. Naruto tried to help but had to settle for waiting and guarding the tent. He was surprised to see Casca approach the tent wearing a robe about an hour after the doctor gave Griffith and him an update on Guts's condition. She motioned for access to the tent with a tilt of her head. Naruto frowned at the strange behavior, but opened the tent flap for her, before following her in. She stood there for a moment, silently staring at guts and contemplating something before her expression shifted to resignation as she came to a decision. She addressed Naruto without turning around. "Griffith ordered me to lay with your brother and keep him warm. I need your approval to do it." She mistook Naruto's surprised expression for one of distrust, and proceeded to allow the robe to fall to her feet. She spun around slowly with her arms out to her sides. "As you can see, I'm no threat and I don't even possess a weapon."

Naruto chuckled at her comment, before correcting her. "I know just how deadly you can be with out any weapon on your person my lady. I thank you for what you are about to do for my brother though, and if you need any assistance, I'll be maintaining my vigil right outside the tent." He handed Casca back her robe, gave a quick kiss to her hand, and walked out of the tent. Casca turned to his brother with a light blush still on her face. She wasn't used to being treated as anything more than one of the guys and didn't know how to handle chivalry directed at herself. She climbed into bed with Guts, pulling the covers up over herself and hoping that he would recover sooner than later.

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Guts woke up feeling worse than when he had his first hangover, his side was bandaged up and still tender as hell. He could see a small amount of blood seeping through the bandages, but still counted it as a win considering how close it was to his heart. He was surprised to not see Naruto anywhere as he stuck his head outside the tent flap. He closed his eyes and simply listened for a second before he heard his brother's voice. Opening his eyes, he headed in that direction, noticing the angry eyes of most of the camp as he walked by. He wasn't surprised. He was an outsider wherever he went, though his brother always managed to fit into what ever group they were with.

Speaking of the devil, he rounded a corner only to see his brother sitting around a campfire with the giant and woman he had fought earlier, along with a younger blonde preteenager, and a young blonde man with shoulder length straight hair. His brother had just finished with his story and the majority of them were laughing openly, with the woman cracking a soft smile. Naruto noticed Guts approach and stood up to greet him. "There's my little brother back from the dead. I was wondering how long you were going to sleep. I had intended to shave your eyebrows if you were still out of it tonight." Guts drew back in horror as the rest laughed. He knew Naruto didn't make idle threats like that, he fully intended to carry it out. "You can thank Casca here" his brother gestured to the woman, "for laying with you for two days to take care of you during your recovery from bloodloss."

Guts turned to the woman and gave her a stiff nod. "Thank you. It appears I owe you one now." He was about to continue on, but she had already crossed the distance and punched him right in his wound. Guts sank down to his knees in pain, only able to mutter a soft "bitch" under his breath as his world spun around him.

Casca scowled as she stared at the pig that she had to lay with. "I only did it because Griffith ordered me to" she said with a look of disgust before storming off. She had learned from previous experiences that she had to make it clear early on that it meant nothing or he might get the wrong idea.

Naruto shook his head as he watched his brother try to stand again. "You still have a way with the ladies I see." He pointed towards the large tent near the end of the camp. "Griffith refused to speak with me until you woke up. He demanded that you be part of any discussion. We should head over there now if you're up for it." Guts gave him a quick nod and started moving in the tent's direction, his brother falling in beside him.

Griffith was standing outside of his tent talking with Casca. He gave the brothers a smile as they approached. "I'm sorry about avoiding our talk," he addressed Naruto, "but I'd imagine you would both want to hear my offer." He turned to Guts with a smile, "I want you, Guts."

Guts reared back as if he had just found a snake. "Are you a homo?" he bluntly asked. Naruto barely avoided facepalming at his brother's lack of manners.

Griffith could only laugh though. "No" he chuckled, "I was there 4 days ago in the castle when you fight Basuzo. If his axe wasn't cracked you would have lost your head." After Guts agreed with him, Griffith couldn't help but admire him for his honesty. "Its like you bet your life whenever you charge into battle no matter how large or numerous the enemy is, yet you also struggle just as hard to make it out alive afterwards. That is why I want you."

Griffith then turned to Naruto. "Your brother is easy to read, he lives his life like an open book. You on the other hand are like a mystery wrapped in an enigma. You are obviously extremely skilled in direct combat from what I have seen, yet you took the sneaky route of assassinating the enemy leadership instead of participating directly in the battle. You are one of the most cheerful people I have met with an open warm smile, yet I also have seen your serious expression as you have held a sword to Casca's throat. Even more amazing is that she has already forgiven you for it." Naruto blinked at the detailed description of himself. He hadn't figured Griffith had enough time to notice all of those details about himself. Griffith continued on as the blonde refocused on him. "I don't understand your motivations yet, but I'd be a fool to not want your skills at my side in the Band of the Hawk." He turned to encompass both brothers at this point. "So what do you say?"

Guts leaned forwards before Naruto had time to even think of a reply. "You piss me off!" he said pointing at Griffith. "Who the hell are you to act like you know me when we just met. It makes me sick, besides the fact that your group attacked us and I've already killed two of your men. We're enemies."

Griffith took a step back in surprise. "What do you intend to do then?" he asked.

"That's easy" said Guts as he raised his sword. "We'll settle it with these. If I win I get to put a matching hole in your chest. If you win then I'll be your soldier, or fag boy, or what ever."

Griffith closed his eyes for a moment before reopening them and raising his sword towards Guts. "I agree. I don't like to doing these things by force but I can respect your decision." He turned to Casca, who had come running once she had seen the swords drawn. "Stay out of this Casca! I will obtain what I desire." Casca hung her head as she stepped back to watch the fight. "What say you?" he questioned, turning towards Naruto. "Will you abide by your brother's agreement as well?"

Naruto shrugged, looking between Guts and Griffith. "I can abide by them, though I'll be damn if I go gay for anyone. Guts can fill that role all by himself."

Griffith nodded, turning around to see Guts's sword already on its way towards his head. He quickly parried it, along with the follow up blows, choosing to retaliate by slashing light cuts all over Guts to get his point across that he could win anytime he wanted. Naruto had walked over to stand by Casca. He shook his head as he observed the fight. Griffith was making a deadly mistake in delaying the match's outcome. Guts became more dangerous as the fight continued.

Guts realized he wasn't going to win in a straight up sword battle, so after the next series of clashes, he buried the top portion of his sword in the dirt. As Griffith closed in to capitalize, Guts through the dirt his sword had plowed up right in his opponent's face. Griffith reeled back, furiously scrubing his eyes as Guts moved in for a full overhead strike, looking to split Griffith in two. He hadn't followed the move fully, but one second he was getting ready to finish griffith, and the next he had his sword stuck in the dirt with Griffith perched on top of it holding his smaller sword inches from Guts's neck. "Do you yield?" asked the leader of the Hawks.

Guts just snorted before responding in scorn. "Let me show you how a mouth is really supposed to be used in battle!" With that said, he bit down on Griffiths sword, holding it in his teeth. Blood could be seen trickling out of the corner of his mouth. Griffith was too stunned to react quickly, so Guts took the initiative of forcing both of them to tumble down the hillside. The landed hard at the bottom, but Guts recovered first and was able to catch Griffith with a vicious cross that drew blood from the white haired boy's mouth. Guts felt extremely proud of himself knowing that he had mostly likely popped the perfect boy's cherry for getting hit. He made his fatal mistake of lunging into a body tackle at Griffith. The Hawks leader simply dodged to the side, letting Guts pass by before putting him in an armbar with only inches from dislocating his shoulder. "Do you yield?" he asked the stubborn teen.

Guts only response was "Go to hell" as he still tried to get out of the hold. Griffith leaned forwards, and with a loud pop that echoed over the clearing the fight was over, and Guts was once again immobile.

Griffith caught Naruto's nod of recognition for his win, and turned to his men, who had come running as they witnessed the fight. "I give you the newest members of the Hawks, Guts and Naruto!" The men cheered. They were all mercenaries and understood the battlefield politics. Yesterday's enemy was tomorrow's ally. It would also do their group a world of good to add two bruisers to their ranks like Naruto and Gats. The men broke out casks of wine and ale to celebrate. Naruto joined the fire with with his new friends after carrying Guts back to the infirmary again. He was assured that his brother would be up and moving before the party ended.

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The party had ended and everyone had passed out asleep. Some had made it to their tents, while others didn't make it off of the grass they had started out the night sitting on. The moon was high in the sky, full and bathing the land in it's soft glow. Two figures could be seen facing each other on top of the hilltop that Guts had fought on earlier. Naruto and Griffith squared off with their respective weapons. "Just to make this clear, this has no effect on the deal earlier" stated Griffith. "I can't lead men that I'm not confident I can beat. We need to know where we stand on who is a better fighter."

"I couldn't agree more" said Naruto as he and Griffith raced towards each other, the clashes of their weapons lighting up the night.


	2. Chapter 2

You Have Your Demons and I Have Mine

Chapter 2: The initiation…

Naruto woke up to see the moon higher in the sky then he remembered it being. His body hurt all over, convincing him that sitting up wasn't worth it at the moment. His torso, arms, and legs were all littered with shallow cuts, though the one on his right forearm was quite deep and would probably require a few stitches to close up. He had earned at least one scar from his brawl with his new leader that night.

His ears picked up a soft groan causing him to turn his head to the left. Griffith was sprawled out next to him, his body littered with cuts as well. They mercenary leader was holding the side of his head with one hand, while gently probing his swollen left eyelid with his other hand. Both of them could tell that it would develop into one hell of a black eye over the next few days. He wasn't in any hurry to get up either, though he still had the strength to turn his head and give his opponent a smug smile. Naruto subconsciously bristled at the cockiness shown to him but held his tongue until his initial response had passed and his face returned to a tired smile. "You know you're an asshole right?" he said as he looked over at Griffith. "We have an epic fucking battle for over an hour and you win it by kicking me in the nuts and kneeing me in the face. That's not exactly something you can brag to a lady about."

Griffith snorted, though he regretted it immediately as his concussion flared up again. "I may act refined to deal with people at a higher station, but in the end we're all just mercenaries. Honor doesn't matter when our life is on the line. That was a legitimate win, and I wouldn't have done it if you hadn't dropped your weapons and started punching me in the face. You know you deserved it Naruto."

"And I wouldn't have done that if you hadn't made a comment about how my sword must have reflected my dick size and Guts must have gotten all of the good genes. We aren't even related." Naruto leveraged himself up, though he made sure to take a wide stance to avoid damaging his goods any further. He offered a hand to Griffith, and once taken, pulled the other boy up to his feet as well. Griffith swayed on his feet, the quick movement causing the earth under him to seem like it was moving on it's own. Naruto threw his leader's arm over his shoulder and they slowly began their long trek back to the camp at the bottom of the hill. "So do you feel like you have a better idea of what drives me now?" he asked.

Griffith slowly nodded as he gathered his thoughts. "You seem to fight for others, more than yourself. But only for those that have earned a place in your heart like Guts. I'm hoping that myself and the rest of your new comrades can eventually earn a spot there as well."

Naruto could respect that honesty. Griffith didn't sugarcoat anything when a straight answer would suffice. He supposed it was just another trait of mercenaries, needing to get to the point quickly and cleanly when money and lives were involved. He angled himself towards Griffith and offered his fist. Griffith stared at it for a moment before realizing the significance. He offered a small smile before he brought up his fist to bump Naruto's. Nothing more needed to be said about the fight after that. He had earned the support and respect of his newest member of the Band of the Hawk. Naruto glanced towards a tree halfway down the hill, noticing as a dark shape ducked back behind the trunk. "Do you want to talk to our audience?"

"No" Griffith answered as they slowly continued on. "She needed to see that as much as we needed to do it. She'll spread the word so we won't have to."

Naruto suddenly grinned as they limped on. "You know Guts is going to be pissed that he lost so badly to you right?"

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Casca couldn't believe what she had just seen. She had been with the Band of the Hawk for years now, since she was a preteen girl. She had embraced its morals and values fully and loved everyone in it as if they were her family. Their leader Griffith was someone she had always looked up to from day one. He had always seemed larger than life and nigh indestructible. It was a great comfort to her to know that no matter how tough an opponent they fought, Griffith was always stronger. He was the Band of the Hawk's ace in the hole that they could always fall back on. And she had just witnessed him almost get defeated.

She had seen Griffith and Naruto leave the camp together earlier that night and had decided to follow them. They had proceeded back to the hill where Griffith had defeated Guts earlier that afternoon. She had expected them to talk now that they had privacy from the rest, but they had simply drew their weapons and faced off from each other. Casca had found herself at a crossroads at that point in time. Her duty to go out and defend Griffith was at war with her desire to remain hidden and observe what looked to be an incredible fight. She finally chose to stay hidden, and was almost immediately rewarded as both Griffith and Naruto surged forwards to clash under the full moon's light.

The battle was incredible to behold from her hiding place. The attacks from both boys were swift and deadly, neither wanting to give their opponent a chance to compose himself. Griffith found himself at a minor disadvantage from the onset. Naruto had watched his battle with Guts carefully and adjusted his fighting style to counter Griffith's favorite tactics. Naruto would use his long sword one handed to engage Griffith from a distance. Then when Griffith would parry it to move in closer allowing him to counterattack, Naruto would come in with his handaxe in his off hand. Griffith would have no choice but to fall back seeing as how his sword was already engaged and had no way to defend himself. The axe's black tint made it difficult to detect in the moonlight until it was almost too close to react to.

The fight shifted as Griffith was finally able to send Naruto's axe flying with a lucky deflection. With each boy only having one remaining weapon, they started closing the distance between them. Cuts soon started appearing all over both of their bodies as they began to banter with each other in hope of breaking the stalemate. Casca couldn't hear the dialogue from her hiding place, but she nearly had a heart attack when she saw Naruto's eyes flare at something Griffith had said to him. The blonde man had thrown down his sword, and in less than a blink had knocked Griffith's sword from his hand before pulling in the surprised man by the collar and punching him in the head twice with an incredible force. Griffith had hurriedly backed away, trying to gain some distance to recover from the unexpected assault. He was barely able to make out Naruto charging at him again, even faster than he was a moment ago. Griffith gave a fake hook to Naruto's head, then when the blonde raised his arms to defend, the mercenary leader kicked him right between the legs with enough force to raise his feet off of the ground. Naruto fell to his knees, his eyes tearing up and his whole body quivering as he held himself. As his eyes uncrossed themselves and began to refocus, the last thing he saw was a knee heading right for his face.

Casca blew out a sigh of relief as she watched Naruto fall onto his back, knocked out and unmoving. Griffith pitched over less than a second later, utterly spent from what turned out to be one of the toughest fights of his life. Caska had only made it one step from the tree towards her leader when she saw both boys begin to move again. To her surprise, they had already begun treating each other like comrades instead of enemies, the previous fight already placed into the past. "Men" she muttered to herself. She had never understood how someone could let go of a grudge so fast after drawing blood from each other. She watched the two limp back to the camp before slowly making her way back herself.

Casca stopped off by one of the closer bonfires, sitting down and staring at the flames as if in a trance as she thought about what she had just witnessed. She had completely tuned out the outside world around her and was startled when a hand lightly fell on her shoulder, getting her attention. She whipped around, only to find 3 of her closer friends Rickert, Pippin, and Judeau all staring at her with looks of concern. "Do you want to talk about it?" offered Judeau as they sat around her, sharing in the fire's heat. Casca debated with herself for a moment before telling the boys what she had seen on the hill that night. She didn't notice as the other conversations around them died out as more and more people were drawn into her narrative about the clash of the titans, Griffith and Naruto. As she finished, she noticed that at least 50 people had surrounded her, all hanging on her next word. Conversations immediately started up all around her as people debated what it meant for someone to come so close to defeating Griffith. Casca bid her friends good night and started out towards her tent again.

She was had almost made it before she saw shadows moving towards the tent Guts was recovering in. She set out after them, finding Corkus and 4 of his followers gathered outside of Guts' tent. Corkus was giving a quick pep talk to the others about gaining revenge for their buddies that had died by Guts' blade. Casca was sorely tempted to let them continue on with their plan, just for the opportunity of having some of the more stupid members of the Band of the Hawk get themselves killed. Unfortunately she was also the Hawks second in command and was responsible for all of their safety, whether she liked them or not. Her warning to the men was promptly ignored as they tried to draw her into their plot. At this point she began to lose her temper, and one drawn sword later, the plotters went scurrying off into the night with their tails between their legs.

She heard the the tent flap move aside, causing her to turn towards the figure emerging. Guts was giving her a sullen look as he stood there in a pair of pants with his torso wrapped in bandages. "That makes two that I owe you" he mumbled. "So I'll say thanks for now." Casca was somewhat confused by her feelings at that point. She enjoyed knowing that someone so powerful owed her a favor, and if she was honest with herself, he didn't look half bad. On the other hand, she absolutely hated that Griffith had said he wanted Guts for the Hawks. Griffith had never said that to anyone before, and her jealousy was making itself know as she felt Guts hadn't done anything to deserve such an honor.

"Don't get it wrong" she growled at him as she turned to walk off. "I'm just following Griffith's orders. Go ahead and get yourself killed in battle." Guts coolly stared at her back as she retreated back into the night. He would be the first to admit he didn't have that much experience with women, unlike his brother, but Casca just struck him as more unbalanced than most.

A gust of wind hit him, causing an involuntary shiver down his spine. He ducked back into the tent to throw on a shirt and strap on his sword, before he set out into the night to locate his brother. He hadn't seen his brother since his fight with Griffith earlier that afternoon. With Corkus and his crew running around plotting death, he wanted to make sure Naruto was safe. As he walked between the tents, he received smiles and greetings from some of the Hawks that were still awake. He had to admit that it was a nice change from the dirty and suspicious looks he had gotten that morning. Most of them seemed distracted though, and as he listened he was able to gather that his brother had his own initiation battle with Griffith as well, and had lost too. He followed the glow to the central bonfire for the camp. He found his brother lying on the ground, propped up against a log with a mug of ale in his hand, and a cold compress soaked in river water sitting on his lap. Naruto smiled at his brother as Guts made his way over to sit beside him. They sat in silence for a few minutes, just watching the camplife around them. Each trapped in their own thoughts, reflecting on their battles earlier. Guts had gotten the actual story from Naruto about his fight with Griffith, and was impressed that his brother did so well. He also felt slightly proud of himself that at least he didn't get defeated by a kick to his balls.

Guts was beginning to grow annoyed as the 5th camp whore propositioned herself to him. He was in too much pain to enjoy himself for what it would cost, even if the girl was quite beautiful. He heard a slight whimper, and turned his head to see Naruto following the girl's ass as she walked off. He winced to himself as he shifted his position trying to get comfortable and avoid getting aroused when his goods were so tender from their beating earlier. Naruto bid his brother good night as he began to slowly shuffle/limp towards his own tent, hoping to put the night behind himself and hopefully start the healing process.

Guts watched his brother slowly walk off before grinning to himself and made his way over to the whores' tent. He gathered the 10 women around himself, loving the fact that they all were' beautiful young girls, with out an ugly girl among them. "Ladies" he began, "How would you all like to earn some easy money tonight? I'll pay you all a silver piece each if you'll help me with a little issue I need to take care of." The girls looked at each other before nodding and follow Guts as he moved quietly towards Naruto's tent. Stopping outside of hearing distance, Guts gathered the girls in close to him while handing out the money. "Everyone naked now" he ordered. Once they complied, he spoke in a whisper. "You all know my brother Naruto right?" The girls all nodded, remembering the handsome blonde from earlier. "Well he's alone in that tent over there, injured and damn near helpless. I need you all to go in there and 'help the healing process' if you know what I mean for the rest of the night. No matter what he says or how much he begs, you don't let up until you're all satisfied, understand?" The girls all nodded with resolute looks on their faces, eager to help the poor man. They all moved towards the tent, one girl stopping to offer Guts a salute before rejoining the group.

Guts waited for a moment as the last girl entered the tent before walking over and tying the flaps shut from the outside, trapping everyone inside of it. He heard giggling from inside, before his brother awoke with a start. "N-n-now ladies…" he heard the fear in his brother's voice. "You're all beautiful, but I don't think it's the best time for this…" After that there was an unmanly shriek as the tent began to sway from the movement inside of it. Guts walked off with a smirk knowing that he may have lost the battle earlier, but he had won the war that night.

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1 Month Later

Caska walked through the ranks of riders lined up on the castle's drawbridge. The men joked with each other in low voices, but kept a sharp eye out, ready for either a signal from their leaders to begin the mission or for any enemy action. She spied the two newest members of the Hawks talking lowly to each other from close to the back of the pack. Guts was easy to see from any distance, his sword was too big to hide and identified him to all. His outfit and armor consisting of dull colors, touched up by soot from a firepit to stop light reflections. Naruto sat on a horse next to him, tougher to make out in the crowd. He had his standard weapons, but also wore a pouch over his shoulder with an opening at the top for easy access. What was kept in there was anyone's guess since he kept the contents a closely guarded secret. He wore an outfit similar to Guts, but with a full helmet to help conceal his bright blonde hair.

Assignments had just been passed out to different people. Everyone knew their given role, including Guts, who had been trusted with rear guard duty, one of the most important positions in the upcoming attack. Casca was still trying to understand if Griffith had assigned Guts roll because he was expendable, or because he knew of a hidden skill the boy possessed that she just couldn't see. Either way, many lives rode on his job performance that night. Strangely enough, Griffith hadn't given a job to Naruto. She knew she wasn't the only one to notice this as mumbling was heard up and down the line as the men tried to figure out what purpose the special treatment was for. Casca knew she just had to trust Griffith's judgement in the end, but she didn't enjoy how much the two newbies caused him to deviate from what the rest of the men knew as standard.

The Band of the Hawks current contract had them defending a local lord and his castle from an invading army belonging to his neighbor. It had quickly been determined by Griffith that the enemy's 2000 men were way too large to engage in open combat. This meant that hit and run tactics would be needed to bleed them dry. The Hawks had spent weeks harrying the enemy's supply lines to the point that all of the remaining resources had been put together under guard in the middle of the camp, despite the possible dangers from doing so. Tonight was the perfect time to finish them off. With no more supplies, the enemy camp would have to disband and return home or risk starving.

With Griffith's signal given, the Hawks set off into the night single file down the dark trail towards the river. The horses were packed tightly together so as to lose anyone. No torches were allowed, the moon providing the only illumination. Once the procession reached the river, everyone dismounted and led their horses upstream wading through the waste deep water. Judeau and Naruto were scouting ahead of the group and signaled for a stop as they sighted three soldiers doing their laundry on the shore. One soldier finished up and started his way back towards the camp. Naruto signaled to Judeau that he would take the lone man, before slinking off into the brush. Judeau waited until the count of 5, before throwing 2 throwing knives into the necks of the men, causing their bodies to splash face first into the river. A moment later Naruto appeared from the woods with the last soldier thrown over his soldier with a slit throat. The rest of the group hurried up to the scouts, leading their horses from the water and mounting back up into formation. "The path is clear all the way back to the camp" Naruto reported.

Griffith acknowledged the information before turning to the men. "You all know your assignments. Keep the formations tight, and attack quickly and decisively. Pay attention for the signal to retreat. Our success depends on the enemy not being able to regroup before we leave. Now let's move out." The attack had begun.

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Jared cursed his luck as he sat out in the cold with the wind whipping around him. He had drawn night watch on the camp's perimeter for the last week and a half, ever since he had accidently bumped into the captain while trying to get into the chow line before the limited supplies had run out. No one was eating their fill, and tempers were frayed all over. Men had already started to abandon the camp in small numbers, their hunger overriding their sense of duty. He was barely staying as it was, given the treatment he was receiving. It took him a moment to realize that the forest had started to get lighter, as if dawn was starting to show through. It was way too early for the sun to make an appearance though, and the light soon resolved into hundreds of individual torches carried by riders as they made their way out of the woods behind the camp. "Fuck this" Jared thought to himself as he made a point of slowly laying down his pike and walking towards the group with his hands over his head. He noticed his fellow sentries up and down the line following his example. None of them were feeling particularly loyal at this point in time. A man without a torch, instead carrying a hand axe rode forward to meet Jared slowly. "Where is the command tent?" he asked without even bothering to look at the defeated guard. Jared silently pointed toward a gaudy looking tent near the back of the camp that was still lit up from work being done inside. "Much thanks" said the stranger. Jared hadn't realized until now just how young most of the riders seemed. They barely looked to be in their teens. "Lead your men towards the river, then follow it out of the area. That's your safest bet to avoid the fires." murmured the man before taking off into the camp without waiting for the rest of his group while reaching towards a bag he held on his back. Jared signaled to his fellow deserters to follow him towards the woods. He watched the rest file past him into the treeline, before he stopped to turn and watch what would happen next. A man in dull white armor, shrouded in a cloak raised his hand, silently gathering the attention of the rest of the raiders. They all seemed to be waiting for a signal, through hell if Jared could tell what it was. At that moment, the command tent went up in a giant ball of flame. Jared could feel the heat wave all the way back in the trees. He grinned to himself as he took off running after his men, knowing that there wouldn't be any retribution to them now with the leaders all taken care of.

Griffith let his arm fall, spurring his horse forward. Hundreds of men faithfully followed after him, all holding torches. The camp's population was still reeling from the explosion that had just occurred and was wholly unprepared to deal with the raiders bearing down on them. Tents were randomly set ablaze by thrown torches, some still containing their inhabitants who awoke to an inferno that had no possibility of escape. Screams echoed throughout the camp as the riders made their way towards the supply tents. Distance was put between the raiders and the supplies immediately once the tents went up. This proved an intelligent decision as the gunpowder stored in them ignited, causing an even larger explosion to occur. The resulting fireball illuminated the raiders to the rest of the camp as they escaped down the trail towards the castle that was just recently under siege. The highest ranking officer left, a captain on guard duty at the front of the camp, grit his teeth in rage as he watched his entire command go up in smoke around him. "Grab every rider that you can!" he shouted at anyone who would listen as he made his way towards the stables. "They are not getting away with this cowardly attack." He kicked his horse, taking off down the trail followed by a few hundred riders in various states of armament, hastily thrown on during the attack.

Guts followed the rest of the Hawks back down the trail. He had spent the better part of the raid with his mind oscillating between admiration at how professionally it was carried out, and wondering why Griffith would trust him with such a key position when he felt he hadn't done anything to prove his worth yet. He looked over his shoulder to see the enemy rider slowly gaining on his group. There was only so fast people could ride in the dark on a crowded narrow trail, and Guts cold see that he needed to buy time. He deliberately slowed down the pace of his horse, allowing the front runners of the enemy to catch up to him. He dodged their clumsy attacks before using his mammoth blade one handed to cut them open and drop them from their horses. This intimidation tactic had the opposite effect on the enemy, enraging them further and causing them to speed up even more. Guts next stall attempt turned better results. He waited until 3 riders had him surrounded before cutting the front legs of their horses, bringing them down into the dirt. This created an effective roadblock of flesh that had to be navigated around, slowing the charge and giving the Hawks the time they needed to finish queueing onto the trail. The enemy commander saw this and ordered his riders forward en masse. The majority of them kept Guts occupied while a few slipped by to engage the back of the Hawks' riders. Guts saw this happening and bulled forward, barely reaching the attack in time to save Rikert from taking a sword to his back.

The Hawks had made it over 3 quarters of the way back to their base at this point with no casualties thank's to Guts' skills. Unfortunately luck only lasts so long as Guts discovered as his horse took an arrow to the neck, effectively killing the beast and stranding him with the enemy. As the odds began to look even worse for him, Guts' smile began to grow wider and wider until he looked like a demented version of his brother. He had held off the initial charge trying to flatten him, but turned around to find a rider with his sword in mid swing at his head. Before he could react, the rider fell forward, a familiar dagger sticking out of the back of his neck. Naruto dismounted from his horse, taking off the enemy cloak he had stolen to blend in with the rest of the riders. He threw a small iron ball with a lit fuse into the horse's saddlebag before slapping it on the flank. The frightened animal ran back towards its brothers, making it to the front ranks before the bomb went off, sending pieces of man and horse in every direction. Guts turned to look at his brother with his eyebrow raised only to get a shrug in return. "I had one left" mumbled Naruto as they prepared for the next charge, this one led by the enemy captain himself.

Out of nowhere, arrows flew over their heads into the enemy lines, making them draw back. Griffith thundered in with his horse in full gallop, his hand outstretched towards Guts. The berserker grabbed his leader's hand and was pulled up onto his horse as they turned to ride back towards the castle. He watched out of the corner of his eye as Judeau performed a similar maneuver with Naruto. They rode like mad men towards the opening in the trees ahead, the enemy almost upon them. As they broke from the forest, they split left and right causing the enemy to slow as they tried to decide who to follow. This left the soldiers perfectly positioned to receive a broadside from the cannons in the barricade in front of the castle. The captain was killed in the blast, and with him went the morale holding the rest of the soldiers together. Their chaotic retreat could be heard long after they had disappeared into the trees, followed by the cheers of victory from the rest of the Band of the Hawks. Naruto couldn't resist resting his head over Judeau's shoulder and batting his eyelashes at him. "My hero" he said with an overdone sigh. The men close laughed at Judeau's reddening face before he shoved Naruto off of his horse, causing him to tumble down to the dirt.

The castle's noble had been waiting by the gatehouse, slowly building a rage at being ignored by Griffith. He had initially come out to congratulate the Hawk's leader, only for Griffith to ignore him and ride back into the wilderness just to retrieve two nobodies. He'd had enough and needed to put this unruly mob back in it's place. "Excuse me Griffith" he called out. Once he had the groups attention he continued. "Though you gave me a victory tonight, it's also left hundreds of armed men on my doorstep that could regroup in the next few days and continue the siege. I don't think it's time to pay the contract yet if …."

"Excuse me my lord" Naruto interrupted as he picked himself up from the dirt. He pulled a previously unnoticed satchel from his back that had a large red stain on the bottom of it. He walked over to the noble before emptying the contents onto the ground. A charred head rolled to the nobles feet, the features still recognizable as the enemy general. A pile of fingers also fell out of the bag, forming a grisly pyramid on the ground. "I wanted to assure your fears of the enemy regrouping. I'm sure you recognize the head, but each of these fingers are from dead officers, you can tell by the house rings that they each show. There isn't any real leadership remaining back at that camp." He winked at Guts who looked stunned at what his brother had just presented. "What? Did you think I showed up late to the fight for no reason?" Guts closed his mouth, knowing he should have expected something like this from Naruto. It had been his standard operating procedure to target leadership in every battle they ever thought.

The lord was truly frightened at what this group was capable of that he had let into his home. "My-my-my thanks for the reassurance." he murmured to Naruto, unable to tear his eyes away from the gore presented to him. He finally looked up at Griffith, whose eyes shown equal amounts of pride and mirth at the man's unease. "It looks like everything is in order. Please celebrate tonight while I gather your pay, along with a hefty bonus." He hurriedly moved back into his castle, followed by his servants.

The Hawks cheered at the thought of more money. Life was looking up for them. Griffith softly smiled as looked at his men with pride, knowing that it would only get better from here. "Lets celebrate our success" he shouted as he turned towards the courtyard, followed by the rest of the Band of the Hawk.

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The castle's courtyard was illuminated by multiple bonfires, each one surrounded by hundreds of men all celebrating their resounding success against the numerically superior forces. The noise filled the courtyard with laughter, singing, and even a few fights as men let loose the stress they had built over the weeks. Guts watched all of this from above as he was perched in the battlements of the castle, enjoying the night air. Naruto lay sprawled on the battlement next to him, hanging halfway off of it with no fear of falling at all. "You know we're going to be drug down there sooner or later little brother. You might as well go on your own and save them the trouble of finding you." Guts just grunted at his brother's logic. He could take that and shove it if he thought Guts was going anywhere near a crowd voluntarily.

They both went silent as they heard footsteps coming up the stairs towards them. Pippen, Judeau, and Rickert all appeared, smiling and laughing as they enjoyed each other's company. "There you two are!" exclaimed Judeau, "you need to come on down to the party. It's being held for you after all." At Guts' raised eyebrow, he explained further. "We're celebrating you two finally becoming full members of the Band of the Hawk now that you've fought in battle with us."

"Dammit Guts," said Naruto as he stood up and walked over to the group. "Don't be such a pussy ass bitch. They all know they can depend on you on the battlefield. Now it's time to show that you're just as dependable in everyday life." Guts grunted and turned away again. He might have gone before, but there was no way he was rewarding Naruto after that comment. He had just settled in when Pippen manhandled him up and threw him over his shoulder before walking back down to the party. Guts swung an elbow at him drawing blood, but the giant wasn't even phased from the temper tantrum and continued on towards the party. He looked up to see an upside down image of his brother grinning at him as he followed behind.

Guts was dumped on his head in the middle of the party. He was slowly building into a rage as he got to his feet, only to have a cup of alcohol shoved into his face by the giant. He looked around to see everyone around him holding up a similar cup as Judeau made a toast to the two newest members, Guts who had saved them during the retreat, and Naruto who had decapitated the enemy leadership. The men cheered as they all raised their glasses. Guts took a long pull from his as well, only to notice Griffith giving him a huge smile from across the campfire as he finally saw Guts join in.

Corkus and his followers all skulked near the gatehouse, unable to bring themselves to join in the fun. Their hatred of Guts was too great, and it only grew worse with jealously as he gained recognition from the Hawks. "Fuck I hate that guy." Corkus mutter under his breath. "One of these days I'll kill him."

"You're shitting me right?" said his friend. "None of us can take that guy in a fight, even together, we'd all die. And god only know's what Naruto would do if we went near his brother." They all gulped at that. No one wanted a piece of the blonde if even half the rumors were true about his skills. None of them noticed that they had eyes on their plotting and bitching.

Casca sat on a stairwell overlooking the party, her eyes were vacant though as she tried to wrap her head around all that changes that were occurring to the Band of the Hawks in the last few months and to Griffith in particular. She had never seen Griffith ride back to save a member of the Hawks from certain death before, yet he did it for the brothers. She could see their value to the Hawks from a mile away, but she didn't know yet if the price was worth having them join. She would have to keep her distance from both of them until she could come up with a decision on her own. She also made a note to kick Corkus's ass later as his conversation drifted up to her.

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Naruto woke up in sea of flesh the next morning. It looked like the camp whores had taken a liking to him thanks to Guts. He opened his eyes only to have a head of hair fill his vision that was connected to a beautiful face and a set of large breasts. The girls had apparently drug his drunk ass over to their sleeping area and had dogpiled on him. He sighed with relief as he noticed he still ad his pants on, as well as all of his money in his pouch. This definitely set a dangerous trend though as to the girls getting comfortable enough around him to seek him out when vulnerable for "snuggling''. He carefully removed himself from the pile while avoiding waking any of the sleeping females. He paused for a moment to get his bearings and heard laughter around the wall of the building next to him. Investigating the noise led to a scene that he wished he could record forever. His stubborn, mulish brother was actually having a waterfight by the well with a buck naked Griffith and laughing while he did it.

They both calmed down after a few more minutes, sitting back against the well side by side in comfortable silence. They looked up at the sound of approaching footsteps, seeing Naruto approaching with a giant grin on his face. "Well, well, well…" Naruto said as he eyed his brother and friend. "Griffith, I know guts volunteered to be your bitch when you defeated him, but I'd at least think you'd buy him a drink before you seduce him."

Guts wished he hadn't already relinquished his bucket, it would have made a great projectile to hurl at the blonde's head. Griffith simply nodded his head as he looked back at Naruto. "Don't worry" he said while smirking at Guts. "That's phase two." Guts tried to subtly scoot away from the white haired, only to be blocked by his brother who had sat down on his other side, sandwiching him between them.

At this point Guts was desperate to change the conversation to damn near anything. "What is that?" he asked, gesturing to what looked like a red egg hanging from a chain on Griffith's neck.

Griffith held up the necklace away from his body as he studied it. "You mean this thing?" he asked. "I bought it from an old gypsy fortune teller a while ago. It's called 'The Behelit' of 'Egg of the King'. They say who ever holds it is destined to obtain the world in exchange for his own flesh and blood. Here." He tossed it to Guts who pulled it closer to his face to examine it. As he looked closer he could see what looked like parts of a face including a mouth, nose, and eyes all spread randomly over the surface. All of a sudden, one of the eyes opened up, staring right at Guts. He could feel it almost examining his soul. He tossed it away quickly to Naruto.

The blonde caught it, wondering what had freaked Guts out so bad. He noticed the eye on the egg staring back at him, before the entire world around him went dark. He came to in what looked like an underground sewer filled with about a foot of water. There were pipes installed in the ceiling, but they all looked old and rusted out, some even having fallen to the ground below. The only pipe that looked to still be in use seemed to glow red at regular intervals like his pulse. He decided to follow the pipe seeing as how he had no idea where else to go to. He sloshed through the tunnel for what felt like hours before he came to what looked like a huge cavern. He couldn't even see far enough to tell where the walls and ceiling were in the room compared to himself. The only thing in the room was a rusted gate connected to a broken fence. The gate looked to have been forced open in the past, and now barely hung on one hinge with a shredded piece of paper hanging from the handle. Naruto felt a sense of deja vu as he looked a the construct, yet knew he had never seen it before in his life. All of a sudden, he felt his conscious being pulled back to his real body and slowly disappeared from the cavern. If he has stayed a moment longer, he would have seen a gigantic red animal eye open from the darkness behind the gate, only to close again when it couldn't find anything there.


	3. Chapter 3

You Have Your Demons and I Have Mine

Chapter 3: Growing Pains

Guts stared into the water of the castle's moat, barely able to comprehend what he had heard from Griffith earlier. Naruto had been staring off into space for a few minutes after catching the behelit from Guts, barely breathing. Guts was considering pouring a bucket of water on the blonde's head when he jerked forward with a gasp, before he cast a quick look of fear at the item in his hand and threw it back to it's owner. "That isn't natural" his brother mumbled to himself, before turning to Griffith. "You really need to be careful if you're planning on keeping it close to yourself."

Guts had been waiting for the right opportunity to ask Griffith a question that had been eating at him. He recognized his chance as they all we're longing for a change in subject. "Why did you come back to save us?" he asked. "That seems like an incredible risk for a leader to take for only 2 of his people."

Griffith leveraged himself up to dry off in the morning sun as he thought of his answer. "You two are too valuable to me to waste in such a petty battle. You belong to me now and I will decide where you will die." At this point the sun was hitting Griffith from behind at such an intensity that he almost seemed to have an ethereal glow around him. Gut's was finding himself almost hypnotized by the mere presence his commander seemed to possess. "I will get my own kingdom and you will help me fight to earn it."

The moment was broke as Naruto gave a snort before looking up at Griffith. "I get what you're saying, but you know the moment would be a lot deeper if you weren't completely naked." He cast a quick look down at Griffith's pride and joy before elbowing his brother. "That water must be really damn cold huh Guts?" Guts couldn't help laughing before he heard a splash. He looked over to see Griffith holding an empty bucket and his brother dripping wet. Naruto stood there with his eye twitching for a moment before he dived for a free bucket. Griffith was already sprinting for cover while Guts grabbed the third bucket, deciding that it was high time he showed both of them who they were messing with.

After the water fight had broken up, which in his opinion, Guts had definitely won, the boys had drifted their separate ways. Guts had needed some privacy to reflect on everything he had heard that day and had found the small dock by the moat a perfect place to do so. 'The man only has about 500 mercenaries and he says he'll get himself a kingdom like it's a sure thing. He's only about my age, yet he's so confident.' Guts looked up at the sky, watching a few birds skimming over the treeline. 'What have I been doing the last few years?' he thought to himself. 'Naruto and I have just been running from one battlefield to the next. Just killing enemies and surviving…' He paused as he heard footsteps rushing down the tower stairs, only to be thrown into the water as the tower door was slammed open right behind him.

Rickert stared in horror as he realized that he had just dumped his saviour into the castle moat. "I'm Sorry Mr. Guts!" he exclaimed. "I just wanted to congratulate you on your promotion. I heard you already have 10 men placed under you after being a Hawk for only a month. That's just amazing!" He reached a hand out to help Guts out of the water.

Guts stared at the hand, contemplating the offer for a moment. "Just call me Guts" he said as he took the boy's hand. He began to climb up before he noticed a shadow envelope Rickert. Pippen came walking out of the stairwell, knocking Rickert and Guts both back into the moat. Casca watched the comedy from the ramparts above them. She resisted cracking a smile at the group's' antics, holding herself to a higher standard. The Hawks had definitely become more lively with the addition of the brothers, but she still wasn't able to decide on if it was worth having them around yet. She looked to the side as saw another set of birds taking off from the trees, closer to the castle this time.

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Naruto had decided that some exercise was the best way to dry off after the water fight that he had most definitely won. He had gathered his gear for inventorying and cleaning, when he had discovered that he had left his dagger back on the trail from the battle the night before. The dagger was the last gift he was given from Gambino before he had his breakdown. Besides their last night together, Gambino had been good to Naruto and Guts, showing them how to be both mercenaries, and real men. Naruto refused to lose any more memories of his past after not remembering the first 4 years of his life. "Hey" he called to the gate sentry, "I'm going out to search the trail. Let anyone know if they're looking for me." The sentry waved down from his elevated position, before signaling for the gates to be opened for his fellow Hawk.

Naruto had walked for about half an hour before he found the location of he and his brother's last stand. Body parts laid all over the road and the stench was almost enough to make one retch. The denizens of the forest had already begun to remove what parts they could reach through the armor. He spied sunlight reflecting off of his dagger sticking out of the back of the neck of a body near the bottom of the main pile of corpses. He spent the next few minutes un-piling bodies to where he could reach his weapon before yanking it out of his victim's skull and cleaning it on the body's cloak. He heard a branch snap behind him and saw a pair of birds startle and take off from a tree above him. He whirled around towards the noise, still brandishing his dagger while moving his other hand towards his axe. "Show yourselves!" he ordered in a suppressed growl. There wasn't any need to alert the whole forest to the growing conflict if he could avoid it.

A shape detached itself from the darkness of the trees, resolving itself into a man cautiously walking towards the blonde with his arms raised away from his sword. "I know you" the man mumbled, "You were the one who blew up our command tent during the battle." He paused a few feet from the blonde before offering a small smile and lowering his arms. "Thank you from all of us foot soldiers for that" he said, offering his hand to Naruto to shake. "They had been abusing us worse and worse as the supplies ran down and the stress worsened."

Naruto grinned and scratched his head in embarrassment before taking the offered hand for a quick shake. "It's no problem. Considering our raids were what caused your situation, I'm glad some good came out of it. What is it that you want from me though if you aren't interested in fighting?" He relaxed his stance, though he kept his hands near his weapons in case of any signs of betrayal.

It was the man's turn to look embarrassed this time as he tried to figure out how to word his request. "First off, my name is Jared. You probably don't remember me, but we met last night and even spoke briefly. I was the first sentry to lay down my arms and lead the rest of the guys off through the forest after you gave us safe passage. Unfortunately we're now deserters and the army won't take us back. I had the idea of possibly joining up with the Band of the Hawk, but the rest of the guys said I was crazy for even considering it. I'm just glad I found you or I would have had to risk going to the castle to contact your group."

Naruto made a split second decision, judging Jared to be trustworthy enough to at least give a chance. "Go gather up what ever gear and supplies you have, and meet me here again in 1 hour. I'll have an answer by then on whether you can join up." The two parted ways with Naruto running back to the castle to locate Griffith. He found his leader sitting at a table near the castle's stables with Judeau, Casca, Corkus, and Pippen, finalizing the Hawks' next plans due to their contract ending with the local lord. "Griffith!" Naruto said with a huff, trying to catch his breath after his sprint. "What do I do if a former enemy wants to join up with the Hawks?"

"We can't take in former enemies!" Casca interjected before her commander could say anything. Griffith frowned at the interruption, but let his commander speak hoping to get the opinion of one of his trusted people. "Who knows what their motives might be? They could just be looking for an easy way to take revenge for their loss."

Naruto gave her a deadpan look before talking to her very slowly and clearly, as if to a child or a mentally slow adult. "You do realize that my brother and I were force recruited at swordpoint after you ambushed us just last month right? Where the fuck was that logic then?" Corkus couldn't hold back his laughter anymore. He was loving watching the normally strict woman be brought down a peg in the most humiliating way possible. He shut his mouth, almost biting his tongue in his haste as Casca turned towards him, looking for an outlet to release her rage, knowing that trying anything on the blonde was a lost cause. Naruto turned back to Griffith, knowing he had his full attention now. "I'm not saying to trust him immediately, but how the hell else is the Hawks supposed to grow if we don't take in defeated enemies? Think about it, they come already trained, most have their gear already, and they're already suitably intimidated by us from earlier defeats to try to attempt anything. If you want to reach your kingdom, then you'll need an army to reach it" he finished, giving Griffith a look of significance.

Griffith could see Naruto's point, but wanted to add some stipulations on the idea considering he had the last word in who joined. "I'll allow defeated enemies to join" he offered, shooting Casca a look to shut her up before she could start complaining, "but we won't force anyone to join except in extreme circumstances." He offered a nod to Naruto, recognizing the unusually circumstances of the blonde's recruitment. "If they volunteer to join, then they're to be treated like any other recruit with trust earned over time and merit." He stood up, effectively ending the meeting, and walked around the table to Naruto. "Where is the man wanting to join, and who is he?"

Naruto threw a thumb back over his shoulder to the woods that could be seen through the open gate. "I told him to meet me back at the final battle ground, where you rescued Guts and me the night before. It's not like he's able to come back with me to the castle with me, the guards would kill him on site. You guys have actually met him before, he was the guard we spared that told us where the command tent was last night."

Griffith indeed remembered the man, appreciating that guard had enough common sense to recognize his position instead of dieing like a fanatic. "Finish gathering the men" he ordered his commanders. "Let's move on to our next job. I've hopefully found us a steady line of work with Midland's army. We can gather our new recruit on the way."

Everyone rushed off to perform their duties. There was an excitement in the air for the Band of the Hawk. They had finally gathered enough fame to be recognized as possible assets by national armies, and Griffith was throwing them in with the side losing the war. Desperation breeds vultures, and the Hawks would have plenty of opportunities in the future to elevate themselves on the battlefield. The sound of horses could be heard thundering down the dirt path away from the castle again, though this time in the opposite direction, towards the lands in the distance.

Naruto rode ahead of the front line, acting as a scout as they approached the meeting point for himself and Jared. He spotted the man waiting on the side of the road, trying to put as much distance between himself and the leftover gore from the battle as possible. Griffith signaled for his men to halt, before riding forward to meet his new subordinate who was talking to Naruto. "Griffith, this is Jared. He's looking to join our merry band."

Jared bowed to Griffith, much to Naruto's mirth and his new commander's ire, unknowingly treating him like any other lord he had worked for instead of a mercenary leader. "I'm sorry Naruto, but there's been some complications since we spoke."

Naruto frowned at the man, knowing that his reputation was on the line as well after vouching for him. "What is this complication that you speak of?" Griffith asked as he dismounted his horse and took over the conversation.

Jared cast a quick look over his shoulder at the woods, causing the other two to grow alarmed and move their hands towards their weapons. "No, no. It's nothing like that" he said, trying to defuse the situation. "When I went back to my camp to gather my supplies like Naruto instructed, I ran into the rest of the guards that I had deserted with. They hadn't thought that I could actually get into the Hawks, and asked to join as well when they heard the news. They're waiting a few hundred feet down the road so as not to surprise you."

Naruto blinked at the news, before turning to Griffith. "Well that's good news right? A few dozen more men for the Hawks couldn't do anything but help." Griffith could feel a headache coming on as he thought over the situation. He was beginning to understand that no situation with the blonde was ever going to be as simple as it was initially presented.

Jared cleared his throat, grabbing his commander's attention again, much to Naruto's relief. "Actually, it's not a couple dozen men. You see, my friends returned to their camps, and word spread to others who had left the army after the battle. There's actually about 500 men waiting to join down around the next bend. They're all armed, but only about half of them have provisions and horses. The rest lost theirs in the flames."

Naruto could feel Griffith staring a hole in the back of his head as he jogged down the trail to peek around the edge of the turn. He could see men lining both sides of the road, waiting silently. He ran back to the meeting point at top speed, noticing that the rest of the commanders had pulled forwards as well to hear what was going on. "So, he's not lying" Naruto offered sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head. "The road is thick with men right around the corner waiting to join." He coughed a few times as Casca's glare was turned full force on him, making him want to hide behind something. "You're welcome" he mumbled to Griffith as he walked by the commander on his way back to his horse. He indicated for Jared to mount up and follow him, taking pity on the poor man and removing him from the awkward situation.

Griffith took a moment to calm down, promising himself that he would have a 'talk' with Naruto later to remind him about who was in charge and who was the subordinate. He pushed all of his feelings down, and re-established his 'commander's presence' again before setting his horse forwards in a trot around the bend. He immediately felt hundreds of eyes fall on him as he rode forwards a few paces before stopping to address the assembled men. "I'm told that you are looking for a new purpose for your lives. The Band of the Hawk can offer that for all that are interested. We are a family and look out for each other. Your happiness is my happiness, and your pain is my pain. Follow me if you are ready to take the first step towards greatness." The assembled men erupted in applause, his own men behind joining in as well. He paused, letting the cheers from the men die down, a devious thought floating to the surface in his head. "I want all of the new recruits to report to Naruto after you get settled in this evening" he said, looking over his shoulder and indicating the blonde who had a confused look on his face. "He'll take an inventory of what everyone needs to become combat able and what you need for camp supplies. Take all of your problems to him until further notice." He watched the blonde's face fall farther and farther as he continued, barely able to hold in his laughter and stay professional. A grinning Casca slapped the blonde on the back while she rode forwards as the rest of the Hawks began to travel again, the recruits joining the veterans on the trail.

Guts rode forwards to his brother, unable to resist giving him a hard time. "You know this wouldn't have happened if you hadn't made fun of his dick size after the water fight right?" As the blonde woodenly turned his head towards his brother, Guts nodded to himself as if realizing some great concept. "I don't feel nearly as bad now about having to look after 10 men, considering you have 500 to handle." He took off with a cackle as he heard his brother's sword sliding from its sheath, riding forwards to join Judeau and Pippin as they mocked the blonde for the rest of the ride.

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5 years later

Green hills rolled as far as the eye could see. A breeze blew between the hills, playing with the wildflowers that grew in random patches. A tree sat alone on top of one of the hills, throwing up a shadow over a single figure taking shelter from the rising heats cast by the early afternoon sun. Judeau sat, perched in the lower branches of the tree, using the view it afforded him to watch the status of the battle between the armies of Midland and Chuder. The flow of the battle seemed to be even at the moment, one side would surge, only for the other to rally and surge back. The ground was turning to mud, saturated with the blood from the bodies of both sides piling up under foot and ground into the soil under heel.

A horn could be heard blowing from the Chuder command post in one of the back hills. Judeau sighed to himself as he watched a dark mass flow over the hills one by one, resolving into Knights decked out in black armor with ram horns on their helmets and wielding vicious lances and riding armored steeds. 'Someone on Chuder's side must be getting bored' he thought to himself as he watched the ensuing slaughter. The Black Ram Iron Lance Heavy Cavalry crashed into the flank of the Midland army with a crash that could be heard from miles, effectively drowning out the screams of it's victims. Those that weren't speared on the lances, were ground under their horses' hoofs. The first soldier turned and fled, soon followed by another, then another. In minutes, a well organized defense turned into a route leaving a wide open path towards Midland's command post, where it's generals and king himself viewed the battle in mounting horror.

Judeau had been ordered by Griffith to watch for a moment like this. He was to signal the Hawks who had laid in wait one hill over, letting them know the perfect time to intervene in the battle to let them gain maximum credit for saving the day. As the commander of the Black Rams reformed his cavalry for the final charge, Judeau prepared to send the signal before he spied two figures standing in the middle of the field between the Rams and the command post. 'What the hell… Oh God damn it." He thought to himself as he recognized exactly who the figures were. 'You get 5 minutes' he silently told them, 'then I'm calling in the rest.'

Naruto looked out the corner of his eye at his brother as they sat on their horses, side by side on the field. 5 years had done both of the brothers a world of good by the time puberty had hit them. Both of them had become taller than damn near anyone else in the Hawks, with Guts topping out at 6'1" and Naruto at 6' even. Guts was noticeably thicker in muscle, to correspond with his sword that he had increased in size to match his body's growth. He was so powerful now, that he didn't even need a real edge to his sword, his strength and the sword's momentum were enough to cut through damn near anything. Naruto had stayed leaner but still had enough power to weather his brother's attacks, if not push back against them. His speed had increased though to the point where his attacks looked like blurs to the average eye. Only those that constantly dueled him were able to predict his movements enough to last against him for a prolonged period of time.

Guts's lust for battle had only increased as he aged. He was fast becoming a combat junkie, unable to even consider life past the next fight. Only Naruto and Griffith were able to keep him grounded in their own ways. This had to lead to many uncomfortable moments with other Hawks like Casca who couldn't stand Guts abandoning plans and formations to go off and battle singularly. One of those moments was happening now Naruto reflected to himself as he watched his brother prepare to meet the charge of the approaching Rams. "Remind me to kick your ass for dragging me out here later" he gripped at his brother. "Now I have to listen to Casca for not keeping you responsible to your unit and the overall plan."

"Relax big brother" Guts offered with a small smirk. He loved addressing Naruto with that title now that he was finally visibly larger than him. "No one forced you out here with me. I just want to meet these elites of Chudor in battle before the Hawks sweep them away. You know this is what I do best." He felt his blood begin to pump harder as the enemy closed in, his brain's higher functions shut down one by one as his body shifted fully into battle mode. His smile began to grow wider and wilder as his excitement built.

"I'm here because you're here you dumb shit" Naruto responded back blandly, getting an angry snort from his brother. "I can't let you into a battle like this without watching your back. Think about that next time you risk both of our lives for something stupid like… You're not even fucking listening to me are you?" Guts chose that moment to slap Naruto's horse's flank sending it forward, before immediately charging after while drawing his gigantic blade.

"It's only two horsemen against the entire Black Ram Heavy Iron Cavalry! Mow them down!" ordered the commander as he shot towards the blonde rider in the lead, leaving the black haired swordsman for his lieutenants and their men. Naruto narrowed his eyes as the enemy commander veered towards him. He had made quite a name for himself over the years always trying to target the enemy leaders on the battlefield. He always aimed for the least loss of life on the battlefield, and in his view, decapitating the enemy leadership ended the fight quicker than anything else. Usually he had to navigate the battlefield to locate them, but every now and then he got lucky and one of them came right to him like this dumbass. The Rams commander closed the distance, setting his lance into his shoulder and setting his body to brace for impact. This was the moment Naruto was waiting for, as the blonde winged throwing knife at the commander, bouncing it off of his helmet with enough force to throw his head back. The commander reflexively dropped his lance as he grabbed at his helmet in panic at the unexpected attack. The blonde had reached the commander at his moment of distraction, allowing him to take a mighty swing with his sword, decapitating the man's head. To the horror of the Rams, Naruto caught the head as he rode by, before jamming it onto a spike mounted on the back of his saddle.

The Rams couldn't believe the audacity of the Blonde swordsman that had killed their commander and taken such a grisly trophy. Their charge faltered at the worst possible moment as they tried to figure out what to do next. Guts hit them like a tidal wave, his blade cutting through the lieutenant commander and one other in a single swing. He carved a straight line through the entire cavalry before turning around to charge again. Naruto had followed his brother through the hole formed by his charge, widening it further as he attacked Rams on both sides while protecting his brothers back. The Rams at the end of the pack turned away from the battle as they heard a rumble start to get louder. They froze at the site of the entire Band of the Hawk surging around the base of the King's hill heading straight towards their enemy with the White Hawk Griffith in the lead.

The Hawks were on them in moments, slaughtering anyone that they could reach. The Rams turned to retreat, only to face Naruto and Guts still fighting at their back, bottlenecking their route of retreat. Less than an hour later, only a handful of Rams had managed to flee the battlefield with the Chudor army that had retreated at the site of their elite unit being truly decimated. Griffith rode towards the brothers as the battle wound down, taking off his helmet and offering a smile and a thumbs up to his heavy hitters. Guts offered a tired smile back with his sword propped up on his shoulder. He was covered in blood, though very little of it was actually his thanks to the efforts of his brother. Naruto looked pissed off at his brother, unable to comprehend why they had to put themselves in so much danger. Guts dismounted his horse and was about to greet Griffith when he felt something heavy smash against the back of his helmet. He turned to see the head of the Ram's commander rolling away on the ground and Naruto wiping his hand off on a cloth. "What the hell Naruto?" he shouted as he stomped towards his brother, slamming his forehead into the blonde's as they stared eye to eye. "You know I hate it when you throw severed heads at me! What the hell was that for?"

"Because you drug me into a battle we didn't need to fight alone you dumb shit!" Naruto responded before shoving his brother back a few feet. "You know damn well that the plan called for us to attack the enemy from the sides trapping them, yet you still rode out alone, making me follow. So I'll throw as many heads at you as I want until you stop being stupid." Naruto picked up another random head, still in its helmet, before flinging it at his brother, nailing him right in the face.

"That's it! I'm kicking your ass 'big brother'!" shouted Guts as he threw down his sword and charged the blonde, spearing him with his shoulder and sending both of them down into the dirt. He maneuvered his way on top of the blonde's back before getting him in a headlock and digging his knuckles into Naruto's scalp.

Casca rode up in a huff, ready to light into Guts for his lone wolf move when she saw the brothers rolling around on the ground. "Naruto already handling talking to Guts?" she asked Griffith, who was calmly watching the fight. At his nod, she turned to walk away, shouting over her shoulder "Get him for me too Naruto!" A hand shot out of the tangle, giving her a thumbs up, before it was pulled back into the battle.

Griffith watched her leave before turning back to the fight, seeing Naruto laying under Guts with his legs wrapped around Gut's bicep while he held the other one with both arms, trapping his brother in a crucifix style hold. "I'm not the same man I was those years ago" Guts mumbled as he relaxed into the hold, realizing he couldn't break it. "I care about my men, and I care about the Hawks"

"I know little brother" Naruto said as began to release Guts now that the fight had worn out of him. "None of us are the same kids that we were back then, we've all grown and matured. All of us except for 'Mr Man Pretty' over there" he said inclining his head towards their friend who had been waiting patiently for them. Griffith calmly offered Guts a hand, before pulling him up to his feet. He then took out his water skin and poured it over the blonde's head before pulling him to his feet as well. They walked back towards their camp in a comfortable silence.

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1 Week Later

Naruto watched Guts practicing with his sword in the courtyard of the cathedral. Griffith was to be knighted by the king in a ceremony inside, giving him the rank of viscount and allowing the Band of the Hawk to become actual soldiers in the army instead of having to stay as mercenaries. "Is there a reason you aren't going inside?" asked Naruto as he sat on the rail and watched his brother practice. "From what I can see, you came prepared to." He nudged Guts armor with his foot where it had been cast aside on the ground.

"He doesn't need us for this." grunted Guts as he completed his 200th swing of his weighted sword. "We're there to support him in battle, not politics." He switched hands, ready to start the count over with his off hand.

"Ah, but there's where you're wrong" Naruto corrected him as he jumped down and started to redress his brother in his armor. "Politics is just another form of battle, and if you're serious in helping him and the Hawks, then you need to support him on this battle field too. When he looks back, he needs to see that we are all there for him." He slapped Guts on the arm before gesturing towards the chapel door. "Come on, let's go inside and hide in the back to avoid Casca. We can hide your sword behind that big plant near the entrance since you can't go in armed.

The brothers entered the church swiftly and silently, their many years as mercenaries reflecting on their skill. They took a spot along the back wall just in time to see Casca who was obviously looking for them. She could only glare impotently due to the distance between them, causing Naruto to grin and wave at the all too serious girl. The rest of the nobles hadn't noticed them enter and proceeded to carry on their whispered conversations. The common consensus was that the knighting of a mercenary was a complete break in decorum and a travesty to both the nobles positions of power as well as the realm in general. Naruto took note of the few nobles who spoke out in favor of tieing the Hawks officially to Midland through titles, marking them down in his mind as possible future allies for Griffith.

The ceremony was wrapping up and Griffith stood to receive congratulations from the crowd for his new title. He nodded to his commanders in the front row, but he grew a beaming smile when he saw the brothers in the back of the church clapping for him. He hadn't realized just how much it meant to him for them to show up in support until just now.

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6 months later

The overcast sky darkened the land beneath it, giving the castle an ominous look. Griffith rolled the Behelit around in his hand as he watched his Hawks spread over the enemy fortress like ants attacking a free meal. When ever he held the charm, he couldn't help but think back to the day he had told Naruto and Guts about his dream of achieving his own kingdom. The Behelit had opened an eye as if it was inspecting each of the boys, but only Griffith didn't have an odd reaction to it. He took that as a sign that he was the only one of the three who had what it took to achieve his dream.

He had just been updated by a runner that the fortress was all but taken with the exception of the enemy citadel. There was an enemy of great strength holding the Hawks back from getting to the enemy lord, but Guts and Naruto were both looking into the matter personally with their men.

"Zodd…" Judeau mumbled from behind Griffith catching his and the rest of his commanders' attention. Noticing their looks, Judeau clarified what he said. "I had heard a rumor before we had set out that the Nosferatu Zodd had joined the enemy forces." He gave a half hearted chuckle as he looked up at his companions. "Something tells me that if Guts ran into him, he'd go charging head long into the battle like a madman." The others laughed seeing the humor in it, but Griffith began to grow panicked as he realized the truth to the statement. A flash of lightning illuminated two figures, taller than the rest of the men go charging into the castle. Griffith grasped the reins on his horse and charged down the hill, alarmed shouts of his subordinates echoing behind him. He had to make it in time.


	4. Chapter 4

You Have Your Demons and I Have Mine

Chapter 4: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Guts was besides himself as he waited in the courtyard of the castle that the Hawks had been tasked to capture for Midland. More responsibility had been thrust on the berserker as he grew older and his accomplishments added up. He was now in charge of a 500 man group called the Raiders who all looked to him for direction. The Raiders followed their leader's example in warfare; they were the first Hawks into battle, and the last ones out. Only those who excelled in strength, stamina, and skill were able to meet the standards that the Raiders imposed on themselves with the weak being encouraged to move on to other leaders. The men were his extended family and he cared for each of his Raiders, which was why he couldn't handle not knowing the fates of 50 of his best men who were inside the citadel searching for the enemy commander.

A loud thud behind him caused Guts to jump and whirl around, looking for any threats. He spotted a body, obviously a noble judging by the blood stained fine clothes, lying in a heap a few feet away from him. He looked up to where the corpse had come from, only to see Naruto scaling down the stone wall using a curtain from one of the upper windows, jumping the last 10 feet to land next to his brother. The blonde gave the corpse a quick kick, as he looked over to Guts. "That's the castle lord there. The rest of his family had been evacuated already. We just need to mop up now."

Guts never knew exactly how his brother got away with what he did. Naruto had managed to dump the 500 men he was responsible for over the same time that Guts had accumulated his. The blonde's style of fighting didn't mesh with large scale combat, making it undesirable for him to lead a large number of troops. No one could keep an eye on him if he didn't want you to, there one second and gone the next. The amazing thing though was that all of the men that had been in Naruto's care remained heavily loyal to him, even after splitting off into other formations in the Hawks. His personality and dedication to those he worked with ensured their loyalty even years later.

Guts shook his head as he looked at his brother's handy work, the lord had been worked over before being finished off. He looked up suddenly, hearing a shuffling noise growing nearer to the group. He followed the direction of his brother's gaze towards the entrance to the keep. To his mounting horror, one of his most trusted men, Dillos, stumbled out of the building. The man's eyes were somewhere far away as he concentrated on continuing to move forwards in a straight line. He was missing his entire left arm from the shoulder down, and clearly in shock as his face grew ashen and his blood loss mounted. Guts caught him as he pitched forward, turning him over to face the sky. "Nosferatu… Zodd…" was the only words Dillos was able to get out before succumbing to his injuries. His last moments of life spent trying to warn his fellows of the danger ahead.

A shadow fell over Guts's face as he lowered Dillos's body to the ground and slowly stood up, staring at the entrance to the keep. He knew enough of his brother's tactics to understand his man was allowed to stumble outside and die as a message to the rest of the castle's attackers. Normally he could respect such tactics, but this had been done to his man. Someone who he was responsible to watch over and protect. If there was one lesson that Naruto had hammered home into his skull over the years, it was "Always protect those important to you" and he considered his men to be is extended family. If one died in battle, he could accept it. This though, was not something he would let stand. "Keep back!" he ordered his men as they made to follow him towards the keep. "Nobody come with me. I'm killin him alone."

"Aw Fuck…" Naruto muttered to himself as he watched his brother slowly succumb to his bloodlust as his rage built. He made to follow his brother, only to be stopped by Guts's Raiders. "Sorry Naruto but Captain Guts said he doesn't want anyone following him" said Guts's lieutenant Gaston, the poor man squaring his shoulders as he knew he could very well be staring death in the eye. The rest of the Raiders gathered behind him, determined to do what their captain ordered, even against one of the most dangerous men they had ever met.

Naruto couldn't help but admire the dedication Guts inspired in his men, though this was one of the worst times for it to manifest. "You all realize that you're keeping me from backing my brother up right?" At their hesitant nods he continued, "And that he is possibly fighting against someone who is functionally immortal and has never lost a battle?" Again they all nodded silently in affirmation. "Then we have a serious problem here." Unknowingly to himself, his whisker marks on his cheeks began to darken, intimidating those who stood in his path. "You all know my policy for dealing with my problems." Gaston backed away a step as another of the men visibly gulped, sweat running down their features. They all held their hands close to their weapons, ready to defend themselves, but no one wanting to be the first to draw on the second deadliest man in the Band of the Hawk.

All of a sudden Naruto loosened his posture, plastering a giant smile on his face to the confusion of the group in front of him. "Luckily you lot are on my 'do not kill' list thanks to my brother." As the men began to relax, the blonde let two black balls slip from his hand that he had been palming earlier. As they hit the ground, a bright flash blinded everyone in the area. When the others regained their eye site moments later, they realized that Naruto was nowhere to be seen. Gaston pushed through the Raiders to the front of the keep. The body of the enemy commander had been propped up against the wall by a few daggers, one armed pointing down the hall towards the faint sounds of battle. Naruto's message clear for everyone on where he had gone.

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Naruto made his way down the darkened corridor, doing his best not to disturb the corpses thrown all over as if they were childrens discarded dolls. The light from the torches on the walls barely illuminated more than a few feet of space, leaving most of the hall to be enshrouded in darkness and shadows.

A loud crash could be heard farther down the hall. "Interesting…" a deep voice rumbled, barely audible over Naruto's own breathing as his adrenaline began to spike. "You parried that strike well boy." Naruto rounded a pillar before stopping dead in his tracks, stunned at what he was seeing. Guts was down on one knee, his sword propping him up as blood dribbled down the side of his face from a cut on his forehead. Across the clearing from him was a man that had to be at least ten feet tall and twice as wide across the shoulders as Guts was himself. Pure muscle covered every last inch of the man, and he used that term loosely due to the somewhat elongated facial features and tusks. The sword the stranger, who Naruto was now realizing could only be Zodd, was a huge, curved, single edged blade that only Guts's sword could come close to in size.

Guts pulled himself back up to his feet, barely able to bring his blade up in time to meet Zodd's next furious onslaught of strikes. He found himself trapped on the defensive, barely able to get his sword in the way of the next blow, let alone finding the balance and timing to counter attack. He ducked under a powerful roundhouse blow from the beast man, the sword shattering the pillar behind hm instead of his skeleton. The follow up underhand blow was too powerful for him to keep his footing though, picking him up and sending him flying back into the pillar. Guts slid to the ground, nursing his side as he counted at least one broken rib poking into something important inside of him. He knew his chances were diminishing as his mobility became compromised.

Zodd's excitement was growing as the battle continued. "No one has lasted against me this long in battle for over fifty years!" he said with glee. He knew he had the upper hand in the fight after the last bout, but couldn't help but want to elongate the first real fight he'd had in decades. His tunnel vision brought on by the battle was beginning to recede at this point, allowing him to notice things he had blocked out before, like the fact that it was noticeably darker in the hall than it was before. The lights on the pillars directly surrounding himself still burned, but the last few lights dimmed and went out as he watched a shadowy figure overturn the holders. "Who dares interrupt my battle?!" he roared out into the darkness. A whistling sound behind him gave him just enough warning to duck a pike that had been hurled at high speed, the blade burying the first foot of itself in the pillar behind him. 'That would have been powerful enough to split my head open' he thought to himself as he regarded the darkness with more caution.

Knives flew out of the darkness to his side, expertly aimed at his face and neck. Zodd noticed that they were meant to drive him away from his current opponent so he responded by planting his feet and using the flat of his blade to block them. He was unable to dodge the sword hurled from his left while the knives were still in route. The blade buried itself in his left leg, just above the knee, causing him to grunt in annoyance. "I dare interrupt" came a voice from behind Zodd, causing him to turn as his hidden assailant finally revealed himself to be a large blonde man without a trace of fear in his eyes. "You are fighting with my brother there" he nodded towards the swordsman that had captured Zodd's attention before dropping into an attack stance. "Therefore you're also fighting with me!" he shouted as he hurled himself forward towards the immortal swordsman.

Naruto dodged under Zodd's initial strike, the blade coming close enough to give him an unintended haircut. He jumped in the air in front of the giant, kicking him in the face before raising his blade to stab him in the neck. His attack never happened though, the immortal recovering surprisingly quickly before backhanding him in the jaw with such strength that it knocked Naruto silly and sent him flying back into the darkness. "You are not worthy of participating in this battle" Zodd mumbled as he turned back towards the swordsman. He had momentarily been disturbed as he caught a close view of the blonde's face, the darkened whisker marks and slit pupils giving Naruto a nore demonic appearance. This had caused Zodd to hit him with much more strength than he had been holding back so far, picking up the increased threat the blonde represented. His excitement returned as he witnessed the swordsman prepare for a power strike, leaving himself wide open to attack. Zodd couldn't help but comment on what was coming, "You're counting on your blade's length to make a difference but your brains will be on the floor long before it touches me." At the swordsman's continued resolve, he brought himself up into an overhead attack, all of his power ready to unleash itself in the blow. "I accept" he roared out, charging forwards. The swords met with not a titanic crash, sharp *Ping* as Zodd's blade was shorne clean thru. Guts spun with the swing, bringing his sword up and around to an overhead swing before sinking it straight down deep into Zodd's shoulder.

Guts was only allowed a moment of triumph before Zodd grabbed the offending blade with his bare hand and slowly pulling it out of his shoulder. The immortal raised the remaining part of his blade with deliberate slowness, relishing the panic in his opponents eyes. His revenge was interrupted as a hand axe was driven into his lower back, nicking his spine and taking away all feeling from below his waist. As he fell to his knees, he felt someone jump on his back before driving a sword blade into each side of the junction of his neck and chest. Zodd pitched forwards onto his face, a loud groan leaving his body. As his eyesight began to dim, he barely managed to pick up a head of blonde hair as the man walked away from him towards the swordsman.

Naruto breathed out a sigh of relief as he slowly limped over to his brother. The blonde knew his right leg was broken in at least two places. He had taken a valuable moment during Guts's fight to make a crude splint out of a bet and a broken spear, before rejoining his brother. "You aren't taking his head?" Guts questioned as he used the wall behind himself to stand back up again. Naruto just shook his head as he motioned for them to move towards the exit. The only thing he wanted was to get the hell out of the keep, before using is explosives to bring it down on Zodd and bury him once and for all.

He had only made it a few feet before a huge clawed hand, covered in red fur, closed around his waist and legs. Turning around his upper body, he had a perfect view of Zodd reaching back to pull the axe from his back, before leveraging himself to his feet with his free hand. The immortal was changing before the brothers' eyes. Zodd's false human form had been discarded. He now towered almost 30 feet high and covered in dark red fur, needing to stoop to fit in what had been considered a high ceilinged room before. His features had become more demonic with an elongated muzzle with razor sharp fangs, glowing yellow eyes, and huge black horns growing out of his head. Guts drew back in fear from the demon, its very presence stifling the room and making it difficult to breathe, let alone function. Zodd cracked his neck before craning it too look down at the blonde that had incapacitated him so thoroughly. Naruto had reached out towards his brother, looking for help. Guts made it over but was unable to reach his brother before he was kicked back into the pillar by Zodd. He could only watch helplessly as Naruto was driven head first into the ceiling by the demon. His brother's head lolled to the side as he was lowered back down with his eyes still open, the lights on but nobody home. Guts pushed himself to his feet, picking up his sword again, determined to save his brother. Zodd seeing this, slammed Naruto into a pillar twenty feet off the ground, before picking up the remaining portion of his sword and slamming it into the Naruto's stomach, pinning him to the wall. "You and I have unfinished business" he addressed the blonde who had returned to lucidity from the pain. "Stick around until I finish my battle and we'll see how good you are without being able to attack me from the shadows."

"And you!" he spun around, looking straight at Guts, the swordsman staring in shock at his invincible big brother being brought so low. The demon smiled snisterly at the swordsman, "I haven't had a battle like this in over three hundred years. This is the reason I've lived for so long! Show me what you can do." Guts was beaten black and blue over the next few minutes. His one hit bounced straight off of Zodd's horns. The swordsman was swatted with the demons hands all over the room until he was barely able to move. As he lay against a pillar trying to catch his breath, he was picked up by his shoulders by the demon and brought in front of his face. "Was that it!?" asked the demon, frustration clear in his voice. "I guess you've done well for a human… but I won't show you any mercy!"

Naruto could only stare helplessly as the demon began to squeeze his brother, Guts crying out in agony. The blonde's pulse began to pound in his ear as his body began to stir. A hail of arrows interrupted Zodd's attack, pincushioning his arms and back. Looking back towards the halls entrance, he spotted a line of Hawks reloading crossbows, with Griffith and his lieutenants behind them staring in horror at the demon who was holding one of their strongest members like a rag doll while the other was pinned to a pillar next to them. Panic was beginning to set it, but a quick order to fire a second volley from Griffith returned their focus to the present. Zodd dropped Guts as he moved to protect his eyes from the volley, rage beginning to build as more puny humans tried to intercede in the greatest battle he had in centuries! "I won't have this…" he said, turning fully towards the hawks. "No one may defile this battle. I WON'T HAVE IT!" he roared as he charged headlong into the scared mass of soldiers. Naruto watched in horror as the Hawks, his friends, were slaughtered by the demon. His pulse was now pounding in his head as his vision began to go black from the blood loss. He could still hear the sounds of the battle though.

Griffith had ordered his lieutenants to gather the remaining men and retreat back to the exit. While the retreat took Zodd's attention, he sprinted over to Guts and hoisted the larger man up on his shoulder despite his protests to leave him be and run. A shadow fell over them as they noticed the silence in the hall. The retreat had finished, and Zodd towered over the only two men in any fighting shape. "Where do you think you are going?" he asked Guts rhetorically. "You are still breathing, so fight!" he lunged at the two men, almost too quick to counter. Guts and Griffith shoved off of each other, choosing to draw the beasts attention in multiple directions at once. The plan worked perfectly, allowing Griffith to score a deep cut along Zodd's right arm, while Guts lopped off Zodds left arm completely a little above the elbow. Zodd didn't take the attack lying down though.

The Hawk's leader was still recovering when he heard Casca scream out his his name from the tunnel entrance. He looked up just in time for Zodd's tail to smack into his chest hard enough to break ribs and send him flying into a pillar. The white haired man sank to the ground unconscious from the blow. Guts lost all sense at the sight of his leader going down. "Griffith!" he shouted as he ran towards the man, only to get intercepted by Zodd. The demon had picked up his own severed arm and used it as an improvised club to smack Guts into the ground with bone jarring force.

Guts's tortured scream was the last thing Naruto remembered as unconsciousness overtook him. His mind refused to give up, even as his body refused to respond. Deep in a dark cave, behind a smashed gate, a single red eye sleepily opened. It noticed the lighting beginning to dim, and realized the cause as it had experienced it before. "It's still too early for us to have our meeting boy" it said in as it's eye began to slowly close again, the act of coming awake having exhausted the beast. "Take this and show the lesser demon who the alpha truly is." A single red thendral of energy wisped away from the creature and entered the empty pipes running in the ceiling. They thrummed to life causing the entire cave and the surrounding tunnels to grow in an angry red color.

Zodd towered over Guts, determined to end this human once and for all before any more interruptions could happen. He stopped cold as familiar presence descended on him from nearby. The feeling of a greater demon, as powerful as his masters could be felt faintly, as if from a great distance. He straightened up as his arm reattached itself, his demonic healing factor kicking in. He was unable to find the demon in the hall, and was about to give it up before he set eyes on the blonde hanging from the pillar. Naruto had raised his head up and was glaring directly at Zodd with glowing red eyes. His hair was frayed out behind him and his whisker marks had thickened even more as they grew to the back of his cheeks. The blonde growled before letting out a shout infused with enough demonic energy to force Zodd to take a step back and brace from the power. The sword fell from Naruto's chest as he dropped to the ground, the hole healing up before Zodd's eyes. Naruto picked up his discarded axe and sword before dropping into a stance, low to the ground, ready to pounce in an instant. Zodd matched the stance, both beings growling at each other, before they charged. Naruto jumped over Zodd's outstretched claws, raising high enough to knee the demon directly in the snout and slash at his eyes with his axe.

Casca watched the battle from farther up the tunnel with Pippen, Judeau and Ricken. From their perspective, Zodd had flattened Guts and Griffith before turning towards something out of their line of sight. Zodd roared and charged off to the side, before a smack was heard and the demon fell back to the ground in front of them, reeling with one hand while he protected his eyes with the other. Blood could be seen pouring from behind his paw. Casca and Judeau took the moment to run in and grab Guts and Griffith from under their arms, pulling them back towards the entrance. The looked up in time to see Naruto stumble into view, looking more feral than they had ever seen him before, when the man suddenly collapsed like all of his energy had left his body. Pippen grabbed his leg, pulling him out of reach of the thrashing demon, before tossing him over his broad shoulders and running for the entrance after the others. Zodd pulled his paw away from his now healed eyes, a scar now going across his snout and both eye sockets. He noticed his prey being carried away and moved to give chase, only to come up short as his eyes fell on Griffith. The behelit had fallen out from behind the man's armor as he was being pulled away, swinging across his chest by the chain it was connected to. "The Egg of the King" the demon muttered in reverence. "A cub like him with the Crimson Behelit?!" His eyes widened in fear of the owners of the behelit, " the Godhand" he muttered to himself. "So that's how it is" he said out loud as he seemed to come to a decision. Zodd reared up to his full height, punching a wide hole in the roof, wide enough to allow him to escape. "Listen well boy" he said to a barely conscious Guts, feeling he owed the young man something for the magnificent fight. "Our battle is on hold for now, but I wonder if I'll ever meet up with you again? Here's a warning, no a prophecy" he indicated towards an unconscious Griffith. "If you can be said to be a true friend to this man, then take heed when his ambition collapses Death will pay you a visit. A death you can never escape!" As he prepared to leave, his eyes trailed over to Naruto, drawing a gasp from the rest of the Hawks. "Tell that one that I will return to settle our feud. There can only be one alpha…" With that, the demon launched himself through the roof into the air. He spread his wings, choosing to simply glide down the mountain side on the air currents, his body too beat up from the last battle to fly comfortably.

"Griffith!" back in the castle, Casca had finally realized that the dange was all clear and had lowered Griffith to the floor to finally see the extent of the damage done to him. Needless to say, it was bad enough to draw the normally strong woman to near hysterics. Guts stood up under his own power, assuring Judeau and his raiders that he was well enough to walk. He slowly shuffled over to his leader, determined to know of the man's status. His inquiry though earned him a surprising slap on the cheek from Casca's armored fist. "Don't you touch him!" she said as she turned towards Guts with hate in her eyes. "This is your fault! This never would have happened to Griffith if it weren't for you."

An awkward silence spread over the survivors, no one knowing what to do next and unwilling to direct Casca's wrath towards themselves. Guts stood there stunned as he tried to process the woman's words. Strangely what she said seemed to almost cause him more pain than what he had experienced during the entire battle. The silence was interrupted as Naruto let out a large snore from Pippen's shoulder as he slept on through all of the conflict. Ricken couldn't hold in his snort of laughter, prompting Judeau and Corkus to bust up laughing as well. Soon, almost hysterical laughter spread across all of the men as the stress bled off of them. "Come on, let's get out of here." Judeau suggested, knowing he wasn't in charge, but also aware Casca wouldn't in any condition to lead for a while. "Put Griffith on a stretcher, and someone help Guts out, whether he wants it or not." Everyone started to move back towards the courtyard and out of the castle, determined to put the terrible battle behind them. Certain people though would remember the warning though and spend many sleepless nights trying to determine exactly what it meant.

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It had been a week already since the Band of the Hawk had returned to Windham Castle, the capital of Midland. The Hawks had been let into the city, but had been forced to find their own lodging and medical care due to being a mercenary band instead of being proper soldiers of the army. Everyone besides Griffith that was, the leader of the Hawks possessing nobility status in Midland. Naruto could have cared less about the politics as long as his people were looked after. Even though he wasn't in charge of them, he had taken Guts's Raiders under his wing while his brother was laid up, ensuring that all of them were taken care of n food, medical, and lodging, as well as receiving all of their back pay. It was the little things like that which made Naruto the real second in command of the Hawks in all but name, the title still remained with Casca due to Griffith's unwillingness to demote her without an actual disciplinary issue. It did lead to extra friction between the two though when Casca felt that Naruto encroached on her territory. This didn't stop the men from going to the cheerful blonde first with their issues.

Unfortunately Naruto had run out of issues to take care of after the initial 'settling period' of the Hawks as they switched from active to garrison roles. Casca had finally gotten out of her funk over Griffith's injuries and had taken back the reins of the Hawks, shunting Naruto to the sideline. Now the blonde was left to wander the city surrounding the castle, having been encouraged to leave by the other lieutenants as it was made clear that the nobles were not comfortable with the Hawks infamous 'Headhunter' being left without a minder in their midst. Naruto's body count over his career of nobles who lead attacks against him was higher than many standing armies. He was the grim reaper and the boogieman all rolled into one for a noble opposing Midland, and the Chuder nobles had begun to invest heavily in body guards of higher quality. This actually suited Naruto fine as he prefered the life of the common folk over the pomp and fakeness of the royal court. 'Besides' he thought to himself as he made his way down the main street, 'They love me for getting to do something they wish they were able to. Taking it to the royals that make the peasants lives that much tougher for no reason, just because it's their right by birth."

He stopped at the corner of where the two main streets in the city intersected. This had unofficially become Hawks territory as it had their favorite favorite inns, shops, and whorehouses all in a few square blocks. This meant that the area also had the Hawks protection, meaning Naruto always tried to have a few patrol's of Hawks in the area, strictly to assist citizens when asked for help. Crimes such as theft and assault had all plummeted when the punishments ranged from a light beating to disappearing outright as the evidence and severity of the crime dictated. Naruto nodded to a few Hawks who were loitering outside one of the local pubs, beer mugs in hand, as they watched the local populace move about their business. It was good to see everyone getting along he thought to himself with a somewhat sardonic smile as he watched a shifty looking man following a woman into an alley, only to be followed by three armed Hawks a moment later. Nothing was visible for a few minutes before the hawks walked back out with the woman hanging on one of their arms, looking both frazzled and relieved as she thanked her rescuers.

Naruto followed the street down to the market area, pleasantly surprised to find a crowd forming around one of the competition rings, an impromptu fighting melee tournament being organized by a few shop nobles and merchants looking to push their wares, and hire any available talent. The crowd began to murmur excitedly as they noticed he was among them. His celebrity was a two edged sword though as the merchants proceeded to put him on the spot, all but begging him to join up in the fighting. Naruto put up a token resistance, but found himself in the ring facing a giant of a man wielding a mace less than a few minutes later. He knew he was the opening fight and it was almost a requirement to make it flashy instead of an instant takedown. The giant didn't seem to get the memo though, immediately charging in with an overhead swing that could have killed a man in one blow. "You know this isn't supposed to be a death match right?" Naruto asked under his breath as he pretended to grapple with the man over his weapon for a moment. "Let's give them a good show!" he said with a smile as he pushed off the man to gain some distance again. The giant paused for a second, considering Naruto's offer. As he scanned the crowd, he began to notice small groups of the Band of the Hawk interspersed in with the rest of the audience. Their scowls at his blatant killing blow at one of their captains caused him to reconsider his position in a quick way. He nodded in acceptance towards his opponent before moving in much more slowly, cautious of what is opponent could do. Naruto led him around the ring for the next few minutes, allowing him to showcase his skills, before allowing him to overextend himself on a wide swing. Naruto knocked the mace out of his hands, holding to his blade to the man's throat until his surrender was given. The crowd roared in appreciation at the spectacle, offering congratulations to both men and handing them each a beer mug. Naruto raised his in a toast, quickly returned by his opponent before they both quaffed the entire mug in one go. "If you don't get picked up by any of the lords, make sure you come by our barracks tomorrow. We're always on the lookout for talent for the Band of the Hawks." The man looked excited as he walked off, joined by a few of the Hawks as they began to share war stories with each other.

The other fighters stood a little straighter and looked a little more serious after watching how Naruto handled his opponent. They were well aware that the level of the competition's difficulty had just skyrocketed, but also held the possibility of being headhunted for one of Midland's premiere mercenary bands as well. The crowd was treated to special treat that day as the competitors gave it their all, many being offered a place in the various Hawk units by groups belonging to different captains. Naruto found himself being brought in to arbitrate a few of the cases, including stopping one fist fight between the Raiders and a group of Corkus's men. In between this, Naruto managed to defeat three more fighters without taking any hits himself. One man used a net and spear combo, while the other two made use of long swords. 'Oh god!' he thought as he reflected on his actions, 'I'm becoming a combat junkie like Guts.' They were all decently skilled, but after fighting Zodd, none of the battles seemed to have as much 'flavor' to keep Naruto interested. Naruto was still kind enough to give them the same deal he gave his first opponent, something that they all eagerly accepted without trouble.

Soon enough, Naruto found himself back in the ring, a finalist waiting on his last opponent for the day. The crowd hushed as someone made his way through them, before a blur jumped into the ring across from him. The fighter was clearly foreign, as tall as Naruto but built rail thin. His body was as clearly conditioned for speed and sleight of hand attacks as Guts was for power. Naruto grinned in excitement, recognizing the man's obvious skill even as his opponent assessed him with a veteran's critical eye in return. Their fighting styles would be similar enough that any decision would come down into a matter of skill instead of mismatched physical skill sets as had happened in battles before. Naruto bowed his head to the man, while firmly maintaining eye contact. "May I know the name of my final opponent? I'm Naruto from the Band of the Hawk."

"I know who you are Headhunter. Your reputation precedes you wherever you go." the man smiled as he watched his opponent pout at his notoriety was used against him. "I must admit to looking forward to this fight as well. My name is Silat and I hail from Kushan." He dropped into a ready stance, one hand out in front of him, while the other held a strange curved blade over and slightly behind his head. Naruto dropped into a similar stance, holding a dagger in each hand as they waited for the other to make the first move. Minutes wore by, no one in the audience made a sound as they waited for the action to begin. At the sound of a child's sneeze, both of the men sprang forward in a blur too fast for the untrained to follow. The sound of metal clashing against metal could be heard as the two men clashed throughout the arena. It was an unspoken agreement that the men wouldn't use any thrown weapons that could hurt the audience surrounding them. This didn't stop caltrops of two different designs to be strewn around the arena though, denying different areas of usage to force the opponent into a position strategically better for their own objectives. The battle finally came to a head as both young men met in the center of the arena, Silat flipping Naruto over his shoulder before kneeling with a blade to the blonde's neck. "Yield" he demanded, only to feel something tap against his thigh. Looking down, he found Naruto holding a blade directly over where the femoral artery could be found in his upper thigh.

"It's a tie!" shouted the official, forcing himself between the two competitors before they decided to go for round two. Naruto found a hand held infront of his face, held there by his opponent. Taking the offered limb, Naruto was pulled to his feet, before maintaining the grip and began to shake Silat's hand causing the crowd to cheer even louder at the showing of honor.

"I know you don't plan on staying around since you're still on your journey" Naruto observed as he walked over to the judges table with his opponent. "But next time you come through, I expect your skills to be even better, and I want a rematch."

"Most definitely" Silat agreed as he was handed his half of the tournament's grand prize. "You're my rival from now on, and I will defeat you soon enough." He waved over his shoulder before melting into the crowd, as if he never was there in the first place.

Naruto endured the congratulations from the various fans as he made his way down the street back to his favorite pub. He felt that he had worked hard enough for the day, bringing in over thirty prospective new members to the Hawks, while making sure he had gotten all the kinks out after his battle with Zodd. Naruto still wasn't sure why he had been healed during the battle, though he didn't remember much of what happened after being stabbed with Zodds sword. He had asked around for the events, but everyone had their own version of what happened, getting even more fantastical as the story was retold. The only two facts everyone seemed to agree on was that he had knocked Zodd on his ass while giving him a new scar, and that said demon had promised to track him down to finish the beat down he hard started on the blonde at a later date.

'Fuck it' Naruto thought to himself as his ale was handed to him by the bartender. He wandered over to a booth in one of the darker corners, a curtain drawn around it for the privacy of its occupants. He had noticed that he was being followed inside the bar and wanted to give the person a chance to explain themselves before he reacted. Less than a minute after taking his seat, the curtain was slowly pushed aside by a dainty hand, allowing a two beautiful serving wenches to enter the booth, sliding around the table to take a seat on either side of him. "My lord" the brunette said, catching his attention as she held his arm between her considerable bust, "We just wanted to thank you for what you did at that castle a week ago." At his confuse look, she clarified further. "That bastard in charge of the castle used to come here from time to time, and would allow his men to abuse us while he paid off the owner and guards to look the other way. We're a fucking alehouse, not a brothel, and we choose who we want to sleep with." At her friends firm nod, she continued, he voice becoming even more passionate. "You save us from having to endure that ever again between killing the noble off, and setting up the Hawk Watch to make sure that it won't happen again." Her eyes had grown watery as she leaned forward, softly kissing his cheek to his shock. He became aware of a draft under the table, looking down to see 'Little Naruto' standing fully at attention as he was fully exposed. The other girl had been skillfully unbuttoning and removing his clothes from the waist down while his attention was pulled towards her coworker. "It's time that we showed you our appreciation my lord" said the brunette with a coy smile as she lowered herself between his legs under the table to join her friend.

Naruto leaned his head back with his eyes shut in utter ecstasy. He had a cold mug of ale in one hand, while he ran his other hand through a thick head of hair attached to a bobbing head in front of him. This was his idea of paradise, fuck all the pomp and frills that had to be endured from being noble. He could almost laugh at Griffith, knowing that the other young man had no idea what he was sacrificing as he single mindedly worked towards his goal of ruling his own kingdom.

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Griffith sneezed as he lay propped up in his hospital bed. He had woken up an hour ago surrounded by nobles professing to be his allies and had spent the time promising favors to some while subtly threating others to ensure that they remained on his side, even after the setback he had involving his injuries. He sneezed again, followed by a sudden urge to stab Naruto for some reason. He'd have to have the blonde tell him what he had been up to the next time he reported in.


	5. Chapter 5

You Have Your Demons and I Have Mine

Chapter 5: Too Stupid to Die

Naruto sighed to himself as he stared at the ceiling of the command tent. The night life of the Hawk's garrison encampment echoed around him as men drank, gambled, chased whores, and fought each other. It had been two months since Griffith's injury and the men had begun to get bored with the hurry up and wait approach of the mercenary lifestyle. Previously, they had been able to pick up and move on to the next job when they felt like it. Now though, the contract with Midland was for the rest of the war, and the Hawks had just started to realize what freedoms they had given up. There were grumblings from a few corners of the camp, but the Hawks lieutenants kept it suppressed in their own ways. Ironically both Casca and Guts believed that violence was the easiest way to solve the issue, leaving broken bodies in their wake at the first sign of mutiny. Corkus, Rickert, and Judeau leaned more towards coercion, threats, and bribery to bring the troublemakers back into the fold. Pippin was intimidating enough that the grumblings quieted as soon as his shadow fell over the men. Only Naruto would hear the men out, letting them air their grievances before promising to work on the situation. His previous solutions of the Hawk Watch and recruiting drives giving him enough credibility with the men to place their trust in him.

'The problem' Naruto reflected to himself as he kicked his feet up on a barrel, letting him tilt the chair back to balance on it's back legs, 'is that this is only a temporary calm. We need something to happen soon or it'll only get worse." Midland and Tudor were currently at something of a stalemate after the Hawk's latest military victory. The battle lines had to be shifted to reflect the newly captured lands and neither side seemed willing to be the first one to make the next aggressive move. Naruto considered his options as he pulled a knife out of its sheath on his belt, lightly dragging the tip of it across his palm and leaving a shallow cut across it. He watched in fascination as the skin around the wound slowly began to knit itself shut, steam rising as it did so. Within a few minutes, his hand looked as if nothing had happened to it at all, minus the escaped blood left to dry on his skin. Ever since his battle with Zodd, Naruto had seemed to heal faster and faster from wounds. He had discovered the change after taking a knife wound to the calve as he fought three recruits in the Hawk's training yard. He had waved off all attempts at helping him, limping to the side of the arena and tagging in Pippin. He ignored the cries of despair coming from the ring, finding a place to sit against the wall. He tore off a portion of his sleeve, intending to stop the bleeding, but the wound was nearly closed already much to his surprise. One of the fighters slammed into the top of the wall above him, breaking his concentration. The fighter groaned in pain before sliding off the top and crashing down on top of the blonde. "Sorry" Pippin rumbled deeply as he finished off the last man, his head turned towards Naruto in concern, ignoring the fighter entirely. The blonde slowly pulled himself out from under the pile of flesh and armor, noting that his new wounds were already closing up as well.

Naruto blinked as his mind came back to the present, finishing it's reminiscing. He glanced out of the tent, taking in the position of the moon. Not even an hour had gone by yet, signaling the beginning of a long and boring night. The Hawks commanders had decided that they would split the command watch between them, each getting a day of the week to be in charge of the day to day operations. Casca surprised everyone by making the suggestion after the first month, much to the surprise of her fellow commanders. The fierce woman was not usually willing to give up a shred of her hard earned authority in the past. The other's immediately jumped at the chance, thrilled to give the high strung woman a chance to destress before she decided to grow even more violent. How Naruto regretted that decision now. He was on currently waiting for the night portion of the twenty four hour shift to end, bored out of his mind at the lack of action. He had taken pity on the men helping with the watch, sending them off to enjoy the night's entertainment with the rest of their comrades. 'No one should have to suffer this level of boredom' he whined to himself as he cut his hand again, the pain being the only form of easy entertainment at the moment.

"Dispatches incoming" was heard echoed through the camp, causing him to jerk his head up in interest. He ran to the front of the tent, pushing the flaps aside to meet the tired rider from the regular army as the man dismounted from his horse.

"Anything interesting?" he asked the man, his eyes pleading for a positive answer.

"Look for yourself" the man grunted as he passed the leather satchel to the blonde. "You're the last delivery for the night for me." He stared off forlornly at the beginning of the city in the distance, it's dim lights barely showing through the darkness. "I'm seriously not looking forward to the ride back" he mumbled as he prepared to mount his horse again.

A hand fell on his shoulder, stopping his momentum and causing him to turn his head back towards the grinning blonde. "Don't be in such a hurry to leave" the blonde said as he raised his hand, signalling to someone farther in the camp. "You were kind enough to come all the way out here for us, now allow the favor to be returned. You can head back in the morning after the sun comes up."

The man shook his head, reaching for the horse's reins again, "I appreciate the offer, but I have to turn in the reports to the army headquarters in the morning." He turned towards his horse, only to stop this time at the sound of a feminine giggle from behind him. A soft hand pulled him around, letting him see that it was connected to a beautiful brunette woman. She was wearing a tight fitting dress, with the tie at the top loosened enough to show a generous hint of cleavage. The temptress began to walk backwards towards a large tent, beckoning him with a long graceful finger to follow. She pushed the tent flap aside, showing the dark silhouettes of more girls in various positions within. The man gulped, looking back at the city again, before handing his horse's reins to the blonde. "Maybe I'll stay for a little bit" he mumbled as he walked towards the woman as if in a trance.

Naruto gave the woman a thumbs up with a huge grin as she allowed the man to enter the tent, before closing it behind him. He tossed her a decent sized bag of silver, the woman deftly catching it in the darkness without a hint of hesitation. She winked at the blonde before entering the tent, soft female laughing escaping before the tent closed again. "Finally!" Naruto said excitedly as he tied off the horse to the fence in front of the command tent. He pulled the leather case from the horse's side and walked back inside. "Those can wait" he muttered, throwing the dispatch folder on the table before taking his seat again and opening up the pouch containing the scouting reports. "Boring, boring, bor… Ohhh!" he lifted up a short note, obviously scrawled in a hurry on a dirty piece of paper. "This is just what I need!" He scrawled a quick note on the bottom of the page, before sweeping the rest of the notes back in the pouch and sealing it again. "Time to get moving" he said cheerfully to himself, his grin big enough to reflect the moonlight as he threw the pouch back on the horse, before walking hurriedly towards his tent.

An hour later…

A man pushed the tent flap aside, his eyes closing for a moment as they adjusted to the light from the lanterns after being outside in the dark. "Commander Naruto! I felt bad about leaving you in here by yourself. I came to finish my… Oh no… not again!" The flaps fluttered in the breeze as the man ran off into the night, faint shouting rising from the tents.

A few minutes later, Casca stormed into the tent, armed with a sword and wearing only a night shirt. Her fellow commanders followed behind her in various states of undress, armed with what ever was close at hand. Only Guts was still fully armed and armored, having been working in the training yard when he was summoned. "Where is that blonde idiot? I swear if he skipped off on his duty again…" Casca's face was a storm cloud of anger as she scanned around the tent for her target. A clearing of a throat caused her to whirl around, showing Judeau pointing to a note with a knife stabbed through it to hold it up against the central tent peg. Casca stormed over to it, reading out loud as the others crowded around her.

"A general and his retinue have been spotted touring Tudor's forward most base. Unable to get closer to identify who specifically. Supplies brought for an extended stay."

Below the message was a hastily scrawled note - _I call dibs! See you guys tomorrow!_ At the bottom was drawn a skull with spiky hair and a sword and hand axe crossed below it.

"I'll fucking kill him!" Casca growled as she crushed the note in her hand. She was already making plans on who she needed to gather to bring their absent blonde back for punishment.

"Just let it go" Guts said as sat on a chair, pulling out his sword to start cleaning it with a rag. "You know he's long gone by now. He'll be back tomorrow just like the note said, and you can have him then." He knew there was no way to catch Naruto with the head start the blonde already had.

Casca gnashed her teeth as she listened to her formerly most hated man in the Hawks, Naruto clearly taking the lead with his latest stunt. "Fine!" she said, whirling towards the exit. "I'm going to go find Griffith and let him know what that dumbass has done now!"

Guts shook his head as he watched her walk out, his eyes trailing down to her ass as she moved. The shirt did nothing to hide her heavily defined leg muscles and he was a healthy young man. "You guys can go back to sleep. I'll finish the watch" he said to the others as he settled in for what promised to be a busy night.

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Naruto cackled with glee as his horse raced through the darkness, the moon barely giving him enough light to navigate the path he was on. The enemy base he was nearing was the perfect location for what he had planned. With the reformed lines, this base was the last reach Tudor had into Midland's territory. The fort controlled the main road between the two kingdoms, and was surrounded on three sides by Midland's army, Tudor doing just enough to keep the supply lines open, unwilling to give up their hard won prize. Both sides hung well back from each other, to the point that the armies were out of line of sight with each other except for the occasional scout.

The blonde slowed his horse to a trot as the well lit palisade walls began to show through the trees. A space of one hundred feet had been cleared between the walls and the surrounding forest to allow the archers a clear field of fire towards any encroaching enemy. Naruto tied the horse off to a tree branch, patting the animal's flanks as it lowered it's head to graze. He snuck towards the tree line, waiting for a break in the patrolling sentries before sprinting over the open ground and pressing himself up against the wall, out of the line of site of the men above. At the next break in coverage, he took out two daggers, beginning to scale the wall silently and swiftly like a spider on its web. He paused as he heard a loud voice from inside the compound, shaking his head at the man's antics before continuing his climb.

General Adon roared in laughter again as the base's commander paid him another simpering complement as he walked down the base's main road. These pathetic worms always sucked up to him whenever he felt the need to grace their command with an inspection. And they should be thankful that someone of his stature and pedigree was willing to make the time to travel out to such a shit hole as this. "Yes Captain" he said, waving his hand to signal the man to move past the empty platitudes. "I understand that you haven't been getting all of the supplies that you requested, but do understand the situation that you are in right now?" At the man's questioning look, he roared in outrage. "You're the last of our forward bases! You control the road directly towards those bastards' capital! It is your holy duty to protect it for when our armies are ready to attack again!" He loomed over the cowering man, poking his armored finger into the man's breast plate. "You will defend this base to the last man! There is no retreat! Do you understand?"

He paused as a whistling sound was heard, before the base commander jerked, his eyes flying open in pain. The man gave a soft groan before pitching forward, a small throwing knife hilt sticking out of the back of his head. "Attack!" Adon shouted, hurling himself into cover behind a building, peeking out and scanning the area for any sign of the enemy. "Follow me!" he ordered his eight accompanying knights from his army, before kicking in the door to the supply building next to him. "You four secure the other exits," the knights indicated rushed off towards the back of the building. "You three guard the front entrance. This will be my command post for the future. And you" he indicated towards the last knight, "go find who ever is incharge now. We need to figure out how to find the attackers."

The unlucky man saluted before running off into the night, returning minutes later with a subcommander and two sergeants. The men stood rigid before the general, knowing that this was the moment that would either make or break their careers. "Gentlemen" Adon said as he paced in front of them, "we have been infiltrated by at least one attacker, most likely several." You each will take a third of the men in the base, minus the one's on the walls and scour the grounds for these villains. I will remain here to guard the supplies against sabotage. Move out!"

He missed he eye rolls of the three as they headed for the entrance, shouting at the mob outside to gain some measure of control.

Naruto grinned as he crouched on the roof of the supply building, listening to the entire conversation. It always amazed him how fast discipline broke down in a unit when something unexpected was thrown at them. Roughly a hundred men stood outside, shivering in the damp as they huddled together closer for warmth as they listened to the sub commander's orders. They constantly eyed the shadows, jumping at the slightest sounds and coming close to stabbing each other. 'Phase one: alarm is successful' he reflected to himself. 'Now it's time for Phase two: panic to commence."

"We should have just listened to Jacob" muttered one of the men as they patrolled down a dark alley between the huts. "It's been an hour and no one has found anything. Odds are someone just threw that blade over the wall and got lucky. Those guys that went back to sleep had the right idea."

"You think we can get away with it?" asked the fourth member of their squad, responsible for the rear guard duty. "I'll go if you guys do."

The lead looked back, getting nods of ascent from the others. "Screw it! Come on guys we've done our duty, time to go back to bed."

The group made their way back to the tent city, navigating through the dark to find their shelter. "What the hell?" the leader said, lifting his boot from the soggy ground. "Did those bastards just go outside their tent again instead of heading to the latrine? That's just disgusting!"

"I don't think that's piss" one of them muttered, bringing flint to tinder and lighting a torch. The bottom of the tent fabric was stained a dark red, blood pooling at the base of the entrance.

"What the fuck…" whispered the leader, pushing the flap aside with his sword to reveal a vision of hell to the others. Ten cots were occupied at the moment, all of them dripping blood to the floor as it drained from the neck stumps of the corpses. The heads were hung by wire, connected to the ceiling post. They slowly swung in circles, their empty eyes staring out at the still living. The men all jumped back, putting distance between themselves and the tent turned slaughterhouse. The man with the torch slowly swung it in a circle, revealing three other tents similarly stained red in their vicinity. "We have to find the sub commander" the leader whispered, before he grabbed the torch and ran back towards the supply shack, leaving his subordinates behind.

"Hey!" one of them shouted, sprinting after the light, only for it to disappear around the corner. The men turned after passing the final tent, only to come to a halt before a hole in the ground. The body of the missing leader could be seen at the bottom, at least three stakes stabbed through him. The men slowly moved around the pit before running the rest of the way back to the general's command. When they arrived, they were disheartened to see that only thirty others had made it from the group of one hundred an hour ago.

"Where the hell are your leaders!" roared the general from inside the building. There was no way he was sticking his head outside until he knew it was safe.

"Dead with the others" he heard murmured from somewhere in the group, unable to identify the man in the dark.

"Ok…" he muttered, thinking fast. "From now on you stay in one large group. Start in one corner of the compound and work your way towards the other in a sweep." He looked up at the walls. "We're going to need the rest of the men for this. HEY! Get down here now!" All of the guards remained stationary, keeping their vigil on the wall. "You" he pointed at a soldier in the front of the group, "run up there and get their attention."

The man scampered off to the stairs, everyone watching his progress. He approached the closest sentry, tapping the man on the shoulder only for the guard to fall backwards off of the wall into the compound, his throat slit from ear to ear. The man peered farther down the wall, before running back to the group, pushing his way into the middle of them. "I don't think they'll be joining us general" he said once he felt safer.

"Damn it" Adon growled to himself before raising his voice again. "Go carry out your orders now. Skirmish line. Sound off if you see something." The man vanished back into the darkness of the night, causing the general to shiver as he moved farther into the building away from the walls. He heard the voices of the men as they called out to each other while starting the search. He tracked the voices as they slowly made their way past the middle of the base and his command post before continuing on. The strange thing though was that it seemed like the amount of voices lessened as the search went on until he lost track of all of them. Now the base was covered in an oppressing blanket of silence. Even the insects dared not make a sound as they acknowledged the existence of an alpha predator in their midst.

"What's that smell?" he heard one of his guards say before his nose caught the odor as well.

"That's the smell of flesh burning" he murmured, causing his men to all turn towards him. "The enemy is lighting the compound on fire. We need to evacuate now. Form a circle on the road around me and move towards the stable by the gate." His men nodded together, happy to have clear orders for once. They moved outside, forming a tight circle as they gazed at their own personal version of hell surrounding themselves. Fire was everywhere, consuming everything it could touch. Horses screamed as the stable began to alight around them.

"Look sir!" one of the nights shouted, pointing back towards the front of the supply depot they were just in. A crude drawing in blood was made on the side of the wall. A chibi version of a spiky haired man was holding what obviously was Adon's head, the body laying on the floor. _Greetings from the Hawks_ was written below it, the letters still dripping down from the excess blood used.

"It's the Headhunter!" Adon exclaimed, his voice slightly cracking in fear. "I need to leave! Right now!" He looked around wildly, sure that there was a sword swinging for his neck that very instant!

A piece of wire was jerked suddenly, hooking around the boot of one of his knights. The man screamed as his feet were yanked out from under him, causing him to faceplant into the dirt. He looked up, reaching to his general for help before he was pulled away from the group into the roaring inferno. His screams becoming more shrill for a moment before they ceased all together. "He's picking us off!" Adon shouted, before shoving the knight in front of him roughly. "Let's go!" The knight moved out, followed closely by the others. They moved as one unit, keeping the circle tight as they marched.

A wire was slowly lowered from the roof of a building, almost invisible to the naked eye as General Adon passed under it, before it dipped low enough to catch the last night acting as rearguard. The wire tightened, lifting the man off the ground with a startled cry before tightening and cutting into his neck. No one heard it happen until Adon noticed a gap in the formation. He spied the man desperately trying to get his attention before deliberately turning around and speeding up again. "You two get the gates, the rest of us will mount up."

The two men saluted before running for the gates, struggling to move the heavy cross bar. Adon clambered up on his horse,the beast half crazy with fear as everything around it burned. Noticing the gate was opened, he spurred his horse forwards, quickly followed by the rest of his men. As he passed the gates, he noticed the two bodyguards were pinned to the doors by their own blades driven through their chests. He spurred his horse into a full gallop at the sight, uncaring about safety, just wanting to escape.

A glint on the road caught his eye a second too late to react. The horses ran over the caltrops, pitching forwards and crashing as they cried out in pain. Adon was able to roll with the fall as was three of his men, the forth falling badly and breaking his neck. The general pushed himself to his feet, looking back to see the compound turned into a raging inferno. A single tall figure was seen exiting the gates, his features unable to be seen as he was lit from behind by the fire. "Enough of this running bullshit" Adon said, stepping in front of his men and readying his halbread. "You don't have anywhere to hide out here coward. Face the one hundred and forty year old technique passed down by my family. Rock Cutting Whirlwind!" His men watched, taking pride in their general's battle prowness as the man lept towards the shadowy figure, halberd coming down in a power strike of epic proportions. The figure watched the attack as it approached before taking a single step to the right, the halberd burying its head in the road next to him. The man calmly walked up to Adon's stunned face, before decking him with a punch to the face, breaking the general's nose and sending him to the dirt.

"Protect the general!" shouted one of the guards, rushing forwards with his brothers to protect their liege. Adon could only watch from the dirt in terror as the first guard's strike was parried before his arm was chopped off at the shoulder. The second guard was kicked in the middle, stunning him long enough for a hand axe to be buried in his forehead. The last guard approached slowly, engaging the shadow in a clash of blades that lasted for a few strikes before both of them backed away. The shadow looked over the knight's shoulder, seeing the Tudor army's men beginning to approach in the distance. A knife was flung at the knights helmet, driving his face upwards and allowing the shadow's blade to meet his neck unimpeded. The fountain of blood drenched Adon, coloring him in a ghastly red hue. The shadow closed on him, the figure leaning forward until he was inches from the general's face before flashing a huge grin, the teeth almost glowing as they reflected the moon light. "Boo!"

General Adon **Did Not** scream like a little girl as he scrambled backwards on all fours. He **Did Not** turn tail and run like a coward back towards the advancing army. What happened was that he lept heroically to his feet before fighting a standing withdrawal back towards his army so he could inform them of what to expect.

Naruto laughed to himself before his face twisted up in disgust. "I think he just shit himself" he mumbled as he turned back around towards the fort, intent on leaving the area.

The front runners of the army watched as their general retreated back through their lines, not even stopping to acknowledge them. "Do you smell shit?" one of them asked as he checked the bottom of his boot.

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"Damn I'm awesome" the blonde congratulated himself as he rode back to camp, the sun rising behind him as he rode. Everyone was already up and moving about from what he could tell, though the movement looked a little too organized to be just regular morning routine. Naruto slowed down as he entered the camp, his mind racing for what the purpose of the activity was.

"There he is! Get him!" he heard screeched out from his left.

He turned to greet the familiar voice, knowing immediately who it was. "Hi Casca! Did you miss me? I left you a note." Her snarling visage was the last thing he saw before the world went dark around him.

Naruto woke up in the middle of the fighting arena in the center of camp. He was hogtied on his back with his feet in the air and no weapons to speak of. His six fellow Hawk commanders surrounded him in a loose circle, the rest of the Hawks ringed the outside of the pit. Everyone wanting to see a piece of the show. The crowd silenced as they noticed Naruto moving around, waiting excitedly to see what would happen.

From Naruto's upside down perspective, a pair of white boots filled his view, traveling downwards into a set of white armor, that Griffith was apparently wearing. "It's good to see you back in your gear! Are you ready to get out on the field again?"

Griffith snorted, a small smile on his face as he regarded his most troublesome Hawk. "Did it work as we planned?" he asked.

Naruto nodded his head as best he could. "We should know any time now. I think I might have done **too** good a job in all honesty." Noticing his leader's skeptical look, he decided to elaborate. "Trust me, you'll love the story. I'll take you to this bar I know and we'll discuss it over a few pints."

"What the hell is he talking about?" Casca demanded, stomping up to the young men, the vein on her forehead showing for all to see from her stress level. "Aren't you going to punish him?" she asked her leader. "He disobeyed a direct order," she said while kicking the blonde in the ribs. "He abandoned his post" she continued on, kicking Naruto again. "And he left an asinine letter saying he called 'dibs,'" with that she kicked Naruto a third time, this time hard enough to roll him over on his side as he wheezed for breath. Taking a moment to catch her breath, she realized that all of her pent up stress had disappeared. 'I'm going to need to beat him more often' she thought to herself, sending a shiver down Naruto's spine as he watched her changing expressions.

"This armistice can't continue, or we'll go broke and starve" Griffith said, causing multiple gasps to pop up as the Hawks considered their position. "Our livelihoods depend on going out to fight in battles. We don't get paid like the regular army does, and the contract states that we can't work for anyone else. They have the power to starve us out if they want to until we disband. Naruto has been working overtime to keep the income coming from other directions such as city watch and tournaments, but we both agreed that this cease fire had to end sooner than later."

"That's right" Naruto said as he wormed his way onto his back again to see everyone. "I kept my eyes peeled, and when I saw the opportunity appear last night, I took it immediately."

"But what did you do?" Judeau asked, starting to understand the two men's thought process.

Naruto opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by war horns in the distance, signalling that a massive attack was imminent. "I went out and picked a fight with Tudor" he said smugly, causing everyone's heads to whip back in his direction. "I burned down their forward base, murdered their garrison, and made their commanding general shit himself before I sent him running back to his army. If that didn't piss them off enough to attack, then I don't know what would have."

Corkus started to clap slowly, pausing to wipe a tear away from his eye. "That was truly beautiful work Naruto" he praised. Judeau, Rickert, and Pippen soon joined in, admiration clearly shown in their eyes.

Guts rolled his eyes before walking forward. Unsheathing his blade, he cut Naruto's bindings allowing the blonde to climb to his feet. "As long as you set up a good fight, I don't care what you have to do."

Naruto leapt to his feet, rubbing his wrists to bring feeling back to them. "So" he said addressing his leader, "Are we joining the vanguard, or picking up the glory at the end of the battle again."

"I'm feeling good today" Griffith replied, raising his voice as he pulled his blade, raising it to the sky as he addressed his men. "What do you say? Are you ready to go earn some money?" An earth shaking cheer was his answer as all of the men turned and ran for their tents, intent on suiting up for war as quickly as possible. "There's your answer" he said to Naruto before turning and heading to the stables. "Let's mount up" he ordered.

Naruto waited for Casca to walk by before slapping her on the ass hard enough to make her cheeks jiggle. "That's payback for those cheap shots" he called over his shoulder as he ran off, the livid woman hot on his heels and ready to dish out pain.

Guts let his brother catch up to him before tripping him and sending the blonde tumbling. He held Naruto down with a boot to the back, ignoring his brother's look of betrayal as Casca approached. The warrior woman pushed her sleeves back in preparation before a arm shot out in front of her, blocking her advance. She looked up at Guts in confusion before she saw that he was holding out a steel helmet that he had picked up off the ground. "Use this if you want him to feel it" the man said as he turned to walk away.

Casca smiled softly at the large man's back, surprised and touched that Guts was so willing to help her in her righteous quest for bringing the pain to Naruto. 'He's not such a bad guy after all' she reflected to herself before stomping on Naruto's back as he tried to sneak away. "I hope that slap was worth it" she growled "because you're going to be paying for it for a long time to come."


	6. Chapter 6

You Have Your Demons and I Have Mine

Chapter 6: From JV to Varsity

'Where am I' Casca thought as she panicked, looking around wildly, rolling hills of grass the only thing in sight. The sun was setting, painting the sky in a red haze that reflected the violence and bloodshed occurring almost constantly beneath it. The perspective felt all wrong causing her to look down, only to realize that she was back in the body of her preteen self. Heavy, laboured breathing caused her to turn her head with trepidation, only to see her worst nightmare come to life.

A fat, elderly noble leered at her from where he was doubled over, hands on his knees, as he tried to catch his breath. "Thank you for seeing reason and stopping little one" he wheezed before his arm flew out lightning quick to catch her shoulder. He slowly pushed her to the ground, laying himself on top of her. "I believe we'll consummate our new relationship now before any more interruptions can occur." He leaned in to lick her neck, his rancid breath causing her stomach to almost lose its contents. A large hand gripped the front of her dress, tearing it down to her navel and exposing her to all the world around her. She could feel a little of herself die as her mind began to retreat into itself, aware that fighting back would be pointless. The man leaned back onto his knees, bringing his hands down to remove the belt over his doublet when a liquid splattered across her face.

Casca furiously rubbed her eyes clean, aware that the weight had shifted off of her but unable to tell why. Finally clearing her eyes, she noticed that her hands looked as if they were dyed red. A large trail of red spread across her chest, trailing down her legs. She followed it to the headless body of the noble who lay sprawled at her feet. The girl slowly looked up, feeling strangely satisfied as she viewed the nobles head being held by his hair, his expression locked forever in a look of utter shock and pain. The hand released the head, allowing it to roll away down the hill, before reaching out to her. She gripped as if her life depended on it, letting it pull her to her feet. She found herself looking up at Naruto who was grinning down at her with that full smile of his. Her vision blurred again as she noticed Naruto didn't appear quite so tall now. She looked down, seeing the remnants of her dress at the feet of her now adult sized body, yet feeling no shame at her nudity infront of her fellow commander.

"It's time you got back in the battle" the blonde commented as he tied her Commanders cape around her shoulders. He turned and sprinted away to where she could see Guts in the distance, fighting the noble's bodyguards single handedly. She noticed her sword was laying at her feet. Picking it up, she realized her body felt lighter than it had for a long time now. Letting out a shout, she charged towards the battle and the two brothers that had saved her.

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Caska opened her eyes, noting that the sun was much higher in the sky, barely reaching noon. As her senses began to come back into focus, the sounds of battle being waged around her began to register. She pushed herself off of the ground, only to come up short as a large weight across her legs became known as it stopped her upward movement. In a flash, her memories came pouring back to her. She had still been pissed off at Naruto for his antics the night before. Too make matters worse, Griffith had sent her to lead the cavalry charge instead of letting her be by his side like normal, and leaving her wondering what she had done wrong. The straw that broke the camel's back was seeing Naruto nudge his brother, leaning in to whisper to him before looking back at her and laughing his ass off. Guts glanced in her direction, before quickly looking away with a slight blush, a scowl maring his face.

Before she even had a chance to address the brothers, the horn sounding the beginning of the attack was sounded. Caska spurred her horse, giving out a war cry that eclipsed the largest men in her company as she charged forward, only to realize that she didn't stay in formation with her company, outpacing the rest of them by a significant margin. Too late to stop, she met the enemy with a clash. They quickly moved to envelope her before the rest of the Hawks could arrive, only to back up in a hurry as she killed four of the with precise thrusts and slices. Her skill was the only thing keeping her alive as they pressed their attack. She lasted for a few frantic minutes before one of the footmen was lucky enough to stab her horse with his pike, losing his life in the process. She heard her name shouted out by multiple people as her horse pitched over, the ground rushing up to meet her before everything went dark.

Hr recollection was interrupted by a large shape looming over her. The glint of steel was her only warning as she threw up her sword, barely parrying the axe blow that would have taken her head off. She brought her sword up quickly, slicing into the man's thigh with surgical precision as a river of red poured out of the fatal wound. Her attacker was quickly replaced with two more, their blade's raised in tandem to avoid a possible parry. Her life flashed before her eyes only for her to crash back to reality as a hand axe seemed to grow out of one of the men's head while the other disappeared entirely, a large black mass taking his place as he flew backwards like a ragdoll. "Is she alive?!" she heard the dark mass roar out, 'Guts' her mind identified, as he began to frantically beat back the opposing knights.

A second head appeared in her vision, gaining her attention as fingers snapped in front of her face. She scowled, batting the hand away in annoyance as she lifted her sword to defend herself again. "She's just fine" Naruto said with a grin, not even looking back as he parried a attack behind himself before killing the attacker with his return stroke. "Oy Casca!" he called out, sounding like he just ran into her in the street instead of being in the middle of a pitched battle. "Are you just going to lay around all day, or are you done having us fight your battles?"

She rolled her eyes at the flippant question, before gesturing to the horse on top of her lower body. "I'd love to but I'm a little tied up at the moment. Rest assured I'll be evening the score later today."

Naruto opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by his brother's exasperated cry. "Will you shut the fuck up and help her out already?!" He looked over his shoulder as he parried a mace strike, rage being the only emotion present as his body began to go on autopilot. "You're not the one holding off an entire army here!" He wasn't sure if the fight was what really got him enraged, or if it was his brother getting a little too close to the Hawks' female commander. It wasn't worth thinking about at the moment.

"Fine, fine ruin my fun you kill joy" the blonde muttered as he stooped over and grabbed the saddle. Casca's mouth dropped open as she watched every muscle on the blonde practically bulge under his skin before he slowly pulled the horse carcass off of her, allowing her to scramble to her feet. She had thought Guts and Pippen the only ones capable of such a feat of strength before now, the list of strongmen in the Hawks growing by one in her head. The enemy army began pulling back, massing itself for another cavalry charge, not wanting to miss killing three of the most famous Hawk commanders at once.

She looked around in confusion, unable to see any other Hawks behind her. Only a few bodies of those unlucky enough to take a arrow to a vulnerable spot lay on the field. "Where the hell is everybody?" she cried out. This was nothing like the battle plan she had discussed before the engagement.

Naruto grabbed two riderless horses, handing her the reins of one as he hopped on the back on the other. He wheeled in a quick circle, frowning as he noticed that the enemy was almost upon them before he was gone in a flash, riding in the opposite direction over a hill as fast as his horse could take him. Casca couldn't believe the cowardice she was seeing, unable to connect the action with the normally dependable blonde that she knew over the years. "Where is he going?" she asked softly.

She wasn't expecting the answer, jumping as Guts placed his horse in front of her. "What are you doing?" he roared out. "Get the fuck on your damn horse!" He continued on calmer as she mounted up behind him. "Don't worry about Naruto. He's doing what he does best right now, and the rest of the Hawks are following his and Griffith's new plan. The old one fell apart with your charge…" he trailed off with a growl, making her blush as she averted her gaze in embarrassment. He pulled up his sword, holding it parallel to his body, the blade facing the charging horde. "Watch my back. We're stopping this group all by ourselves."

He charged forward without waiting for a reply, confidant that she would do as he requested. The first man he met was sliced in half at the waist, his horse's head joining him in a lazy arc across the sky as they both wandered what went wrong. The charge stuttered for a second at the show of brutality before Guts found their ranks, the wedge of men and horses splitting around him on both sides like a river around a large rock. Body parts and blood flew as he ground through the opposing knights, no one able to slow him, let alone score a hit. Casca followed in his wake, forcing down her feelings of awe to allow her to kill anyone with the bright idea to circle behind him for a cheap shot. Guts forced his way through over half of their ranks before a horn blew two sharp blasts, causing the charge to halt entirely. The enemy wheeled as one body, before charging headlong back up the hill behind them as all thought of discipline broke down at the signal for retreat.

Casca watched in wonder as the enemy made it halfway up the hill before a great war cry echoed all around them. Movement at the top of the hill caught her attention. Griffith trotted forward, clad in his white armor and looking like an avenging angel as he looked down on the sinners before him. He raised his sword over his head, before bringing it down in a slash at the opposing army. Following his wordless signal, the Hawks poured over the hill, enveloping the enemy who had already had their fighting spirit broken and now faced a hopeless situation. It took less than half an hour of fighting for the battle to finish itself, the Hawks driving the mass of enemies back into themselves as they ground them into the dust.

The Hawks' female commander watched this from the valley where it all started. She sat next to Guts, listening as the man critiqued the battle under his breath. She grinned lightly as she heard him huff about "should have just killed the horse and spilled the stupid fucker." Sometimes it was nice just dealing with someone as straight forwards as the large man.

Griffith joined them, observing the cleanup as the men searched the bodies for valuables, and rendering assistance to fallen Hawks. "That went better than even I expected" he said, waving at someone in the distance. "Let's go" he said, indicating for the two to accompany him as he headed to the hill to the back and left of thiers. As they neared the summit of the hill, they spied the black smoke of a recent fire curling into the sky. A small battle had taken place at the summit, over a dozen bodies lay in various states of dismemberment. Judging by their expensive looking armor and elaborate plumage on their helmets, Guts guessed that it must have been the army's command staff.

Naruto sat on top of a trunk in front of the them, the command tent burning merily behind him like a signal fire for his victory. He waved distractedly to his friends as they rode up, his head buried in a dispatch as he slowly sifted through a pile of loot in front of him. "Sorry I didn't do it exactly to plan but you wouldn't believe what I found." He threw a horn up to Griffith who looked at it for a moment before snorting in laughter. He quickly passed it to Guts who had a similar reaction as well. Casca couldn't contain her curiosity anymore, snatching the horn out of Guts hands and turning it over to find a crude carving on it's side. Her eyes widened in disbelief as she read it, before looking back up at the giggling blonde. "I know right?" Naruto exclaimed, the humor in his voice impossible to miss. "The dumb bastard couldn't even remember the signals, so he carved them into the side of the horn. My fire was supposed to cause the army to break ranks and come back to see what happened, but when I found that little gem, how could I refuse the chance to fuck with them?"

"I won't hold it against you" Griffith assured him. "What did you find in the tent?" he asked, gesturing to the blaze.

Naruto shrugged, passing the letter up to his boss. "That's just his current set of orders, which we pretty much invalidated." He grinned, slowly pulling a longer sheet out of the pile in front of him. "This though, is a list of the current spies and traitors that Tudor has planted in Midland's military. I'm willing to bet I can get a pretty good reward for it. Is there anyone you want to take care of yourself before I pass it up?" he asked, turning it to show his fellow Hawks.

Griffith and Casca shook their heads, unsure if they should take the blonde up on his macabre offer. Guts grew excited though as he looked closer at a few of the names. "Those bastards owe me money from a poker game awhile back. They ran when a fight broke out before I could collect. They've been hiding behind some prissy noble's protection since then."

"I'll give you 24 hours to collect before I ruin what's left of them" Naruto assured him, getting a fist bump in thanks from his brother. "Let me pack all of this up and I'll join you guys at the base camp." He turned back around towards his loot, and the bodies he needed to strip. 'This might take a while' he thought to himself as he tried to figure out where to start.

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"You knew! You fucking knew this would happen and you didn't warn me!"

Griffith rolled his eyes at the blonde's antics as they walked towards the castle's main entrance. "What did you think would occur when you not only revealed the list to the generals, but offered to capture the traitors yourself? Trust me, the last thing they wanted was to make 'the headhunter' into a knight, but you didn't leave them much choice. This was too big of a deal to sweep under the rug from the king and his brother. Of course they'd reward you." The white haired man paused, considering the situation. "You're too much of a threat now. Making you a knight of the realm tied you to Midland and ensured that you wouldn't be hunting them on a battlefield some time in the future."

"So pretty much the exact way they clipped your wings too huh?" He received an elbow to his ribs for the comment, though Griffith looked a bit depressed as well having realized the same thing. "Hey" he said, determined to cheer up his friend. "This puts you one huge step closer to being a king of your own right?" Seeing Griffith's questioning look, he elaborated "Nobility means title, title means land, land becomes a kingdom, and you already have your own army which you'll need to defend said kingdom."

"You've put a lot of thought into this for someone who professes to not want to either lead or be a noble themselves" Griffith said to his blonde friend. "Are you sure you don't have an ambition similar to mine?"

"Just because I don't want or appreciate the finer things in life doesn't mean I don't know how the game is played" Naruto informed his friend. "I just don't need a creepy ass piece of jewelry to know what I'm truly capable of." He shuddered as he looked at the red behelit that Griffith absentmindedly played with in his hand. "The only thing that has been good for was getting Zodd to stop from killing your ass. And that was a near thing from what I hear from Guts."

"At least he's done with me one way or the other" Griffith countered, stung that Naruto would talk so bad about his precious. "From what I hear, he promised that you and he would have a rematch to figure out who the alpha will be." He watched Naruto wince, the blonde glancing towards the night sky as if waiting for the immortal beast to drop on his head from on high. "I'll always have your back Naruto but I have no idea how we're going to stop him when he turns back up. What the hell did you do to him anyways?"

Naruto shrugged "I have no idea, I don't remember a damn thing after he pinned me to the wall and started beating on you and Guts. I guess I gave him a new scar but hell if I know how." He shuddered as he glanced up at the castle that they now stood just outside of. The light from the party within streamed out through the many windows and doors, the nobilities voices carrying outside to their ears. "I'd still rather face him in battle any day than have to deal with what we're about to."

"Be careful what you wish for" Griffith murmured as he straightened his shirt and flourished his tie, making sure he looked the part of the dashing young knight. This was his night to shine and his blonde friend wanted to be miserable then that was his problem. "All I ask is that you don't embarrass myself and the Hawks. Tonight I take the next step to my dream" he murmured as the servants opened the doors for him.

"Sir Griffith! Of the Band of the Hawk!" Princess Charlotte looked up excitedly from her spot on the royal platform, thrilled to catch a glimpse of the mysterious knight that was all the talk of the ladies of the court. Her mother harrumphed, hiding her frown behind her fan as she examined the new blood in the court as he made his way down the stairs. Her father the king smiled good-naturedly, unwilling to break character in front of his court as the benevolent and wise ruler of his kingdom. There was power in an image after all. The Princess watched as Sir Griffith make his way down to the floor of the ballroom. The poor man was immediately mobbed by the single women of the court, along with various well wishers hoping to curry his favor. He handled the situation with the grace she expected him to have, giving each person a moment of his time and acknowledging them before moving on to the next. She smiled as she saw his knightly behavior shine better than all of those around him.

"Sir Naruto! Also of the Band of the Hawk!" The princess looked up, surprised to hear a second name announced from Sir Griffith's forces. The man had the sunniest blonde hair she had ever seen before. It stood out like a beacon in the ballroom, reflecting the light as he grinned while slowly walking down the stairs.

"I've never heard of this man before" the queen murmured, unsure of what to make of him. He would need to be examined to figure out if he would be a threat or a new tool in her court.

"I knighted him earlier today" said the king as he looked on over his subjects. "He did the kingdom a great service and is a monster on the field of battle. You've probably heard his nickname 'the Headhunter' whispered around the court before now. I felt it best to bring him into the fold sooner rather than later."

"I see" the queen whispered excitedly, her eyes burrowing a hole into the blonde as he took up a position in the corner of the ballroom, unlike his commander who seemed to be holding court in the center of the floor. She would most definitely need to investigate what made the blonde tick soon. He was too valuable to leave alone for long.

"How can he be the Headhunter?" Charlotte asked, confused by what she saw so far. "He doesn't look anything like all the scary stories I've heard about the man who hunts nobles for sport. He just seems like a young, happy, handsome knight."

"Let this be a lesson for you my dear" the queen said as her husband nodded in agreement. "The most dangerous people you will ever find aren't those that are obvious about their feelings. Someone who looks like a thief or a murderer is much less of a threat. They're easily managed and dealt with. Someone who can look and act normal though, but still has a killer instinct is a very dangerous individual indeed. Many in our military who are nobles have the same ability, though none who are so well adjusted as he is. Such a kind smile and eyes, yet able to perform such acts of violence…" she trailed off, admiration clear in her voice.

Charlotte shivered as she watched her mother's expression change. She hated it when her mother became involved in court intrigue. The Princess made a vow to get to know more about Sir Naruto, one way or the other. For now though, Sir Griffith was within eyesight, and that was more than enough for her.

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief as the last well wisher moved off to find someone else to talk to, leaving him alone for the first time since his arrival to the ball. He had never heard so much said with so little actual content before, but these people seemed to make a sport of it. It didn't help that all of the ladies seemed to be fawning over him like he was a piece of meat, asking him about his battle prowess and the victories he had amassed. The men he could understand at least. The whole point of their conversations was to figure out where he fit in the social structure and to make sure he knew where they did as well.

He did find it intriguing though that a few different generals made mention of using a man of his talents in their own armies though. He listened to their offers, making sure to say he would be in touch later and never out right denying them. He did not have the political clout to do so, and it would reflect badly on the Hawks if he tried. Griffith had kept an eye on him through the night, but didn't intervene, whether due to having confidence in the blonde's abilities, or being unable to break away from his ever growing crowd, Naruto wasn't sure.

What the blonde knight did know though was that he had the uncomfortable luck of having the royals' attention for most of the night. The King and the Princess he could figure out easily enough, both just wanted to get the measure of him in a different environment than the battlefield. He hoped he had made a good enough impression. The queen though, she made him nervous. He had no intention of staying around in court any longer than he needed to, his place was fighting others in war. It was time to make himself scarce. Out of sight, out of mind.

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Naruto breathed a sigh of relief as he reclined back against the side of the castle while the party's noise washed over him. He had slipped out through one of the open windows onto the balcony, before following it as it wrapped around the outside of the building. No one was out here, allowing him some solitude from the guests. He let the breeze wash over him as he closed his eyes, only for them to fly back open as he picked up a new scent.

In the seconds that he had shut his eyes, a woman in a form fitting light blue ball gown had effortless and silently glided up next to him. Now she stood by his side, staring off over the palace grounds herself. She looked to be in her mid twenties and had shoulder length black hair that fell around her face like a curtain, framing aristocratic facial features, full of sharp angles yet soft lips and kind eyes. She came up to his shoulder in height with a lithe yet filled out body. 'That only comes with hard work, not growing up soft' he reflected as he examined her from the corner of his eye.

"Not one for parties?" she asked, her voice low enough to keep anyone but her intended target from hearing her. He reflected that if sounded much softer than Casca's, not having spent years barking orders over the din of battle. He watched her finish up with her own inspection of him, noticing that she took particular delight in the whisker marks on his cheeks and his hands. She offered her hand to him as he turned and bowed, allowing him to place a kiss on the back of it with a small smile growing as he brushed a thumb over her hand before releasing it.

"About as much as you are my lady. My prefered location is a simpler setting, a nice tavern with my fellow warriors or by myself outdoors so I can observe nature at its fullest. Neither of them require me to keep up a false pretense to make others around me feel at ease."

The woman glanced at him, bringing her hand up to push a bang back behind her ear. "I'm sure I have no idea what you are talking about good sir. Ladies of the court thrive in such an environment as this."

Naruto cast her a flat look, turning to face her as he leaned on the rail. "The calluses on your hands say otherwise." He snatched her hand up before she could react, rubbing his thumb over her palm and fingers one by one. "If I had to guess, I'd say you can use a bow with your right hand dominant." He paused, feeling a particularly built up area on her palm. "Well, well, well… someone is good with a sword too. I still can't figure out what would cause this last set though. Care to fill me in my lady?" he asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Is this how you come on to all of your conquests good sir?" was the coy reply. A quick tug of her wrist made him realize that he was still holding her hand. He smiled grandly as he let it go, leaning in towards her slightly as he looked into her eyes as they reflected the light from the torches. A flash of light was his only warning before a dagger was inches from his eye. "I'm also good with these as well" said the black haired beauty, her coy expression not changing at all as she threatened her companion.

Naruto just smiled, shifting to the left before leaning into the blade enough for it to leave a shallow cut on his cheek above his top most whisker. "You can stop with all of this 'sir' talk around me. I'm just Naruto to my friends."

Her eyes widened in shock as the cut began to close up. "Oh you just keep getting more and more interesting don't you." She ran her thumb over the former wound, the remaining blood coming off onto her digit as she drew her hand back. She brought her thumb up to her lips, lightly sucking on it as if the blood was a treat. "Ohhhh… that's positively delightful" she said in a throaty moan, her voice almost purring. "And you can call me Jessica. There is usually a 'Lady" in front of it, but I think we're well past that by now, don't you?"

Naruto gulped, nodding as he tried to shift enough to adjust himself without being obvious about it. Her smug grin showing that he had been less than successful in the endeavour. That was by far one of the most equally freaky, yet sexy things he had seen in his lifetime. Now it was time for a tactical retreat while he was still able to do so with the modicum of dignity he still possessed. "I think it's about time that I took my leave from this gala.

I hope you find the rest of the night enjoyable my lady."

His companion frowned, irritated that the first interesting person she had found at one of these events was already leaving her. "And you have a more pressing matter that you need to attend to instead of joining me for the rest of the night? These parties are dreadfully dull at the best of times."

"Alas I must attend to my duties. Maybe we'll meet again one day." Naruto bowed to her, capturing her hand for one final kiss before drawing back up to his full height. A quick scan verified that no guards were present on the balcony or the grounds below. He hopped over the rail, bending his knees to cushion the two story landing before sprinting off across the grounds, his overcoat already removed in his rush to return to normalcy.

Jessica scowled as she watched her prey make his escape. She had been so close to possibly finding an end from the purgatory that she had found herself in over the last few years. She felt something brush against her shin, causing her to reach down and pick it up. Naruto's tie fluttered in his hands, the wind having carried it back to her after he shed it during his hasty retreat. 'Maybe the night isn't a failure after all…' the beauty reflected to herself. The Lady brought the tie up to her nose, inhaling deeply the wonderful scent from it. If one looked closer, they would see her pupils slit as her pulse began to quicken.

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"That was by far the most stressful night of my life" Naruto said with a sigh of relief as he pushed open the door to his favorite tavern. The blonde had already dressed himself back into his favorite leather armor, his weapons back at his side. The familiar weight of his gear reassuring him that all was right in the world again. He never appreciated that bit of normality until it wasn't available for him. Just one more thing he would have to sacrifice for his new rank.

He greeted his comrades as he pushed his way to the bar. It was packed as the Hawks came out in force to celebrate the good news for one of their own. Word had traveled fast about Naruto's promotion into the knighthood and everyone wanted to express their joy for him. A large mug of his favorite beer was thrust into each of his hands as he made his through the crowd, enduring the multiple shouts and back slaps without spilling his drinks.

'The best thing about leading the Hawk Watch is definitely the perks' he reflected to himself as he noticed that his corner booth was still open. He slid back into his seat with a sigh of relief, the curtains closing behind him and offering a moment of respite from the rest of the world. He took a small bag of silver, placing it on the bench near the exit as was tradition. The money would be picked up by the serving wenches and ensue that he had alcohol flowing to him for the rest of the night without having to leave his special spot.

A rustle of curtains caught his eye as one of his favorite servers looked in on him with a soft smile. "What will you have tonight dear?" she asked with her curly brunette locks framing her kind smile and generous cleavage on display.

"I think I'm just in the mood for the usual" he said with a soft grin, the house pork loins already pictured in his head as his stomach growled softly. He missed the woman make a signal behind the curtain as he was lost in thought. His mind returned to the present as he watched her bend over to retrieve the silver, intentionally giving him enough of a show to excite him in the process.

"We'll have that right up for you Naruto, and we'll send you something special to tide you over in the meantime. Congratulations on the promotion" she said, before withdrawing from the booth as the curtains shut behind her.

"God I love this place" he muttered out loud, taking a swig of his beer as he leaned back. He was only surprised for a moment when a familiar head of blonde hair popped up under the table, deft hands already undoing the string tying his pants up. "Let me guess, you're here to tide me over" he observed as he looked into her mischievous blue eyes.

The girl simply smiled at him as she released his package from it's confines before giving it a long lick from the base to the tip. Her eyes twinkled as she watched him shudder from her ministrations before engulfing him in her mouth and sinking down until her nose was buried in his pubic hair. Naruto relaxed as he let the girl continue her work, sipping at his beer as he felt the days stress slip away from him. He chuckled to himself as he imagined Griffith still in the center of the crowd in the ballroom, unable to escape.

"So this is the important duty you had to attend to." His neck bones cracked, such was the speed that his head whipped around to stare at the woman sitting across from him on the other side of the table. Jessica's grin couldn't have been any more smug as she watched him pale from her greeting. "I hope you don't mind that I decided to join you. I just didn't feel that we ended the conversation the right way earlier and I assumed you'd be more comfortable in your normal environment." She pulled the extra mug of beer over to herself, drinking over half of the contents in one pull as she waited for the blonde to gather his thoughts.

'What The Double Fuck!?' Naruto's brain shouted in his head as he sat ramrod straight while observing the dangerous woman across from him. She had discarded her dress in favor of a red silk shirt with a black corset pulled tightly around it, while her legs were shown off perfectly in her tight leather pants and boots. She had at least four daggers visible on different parts of her body, as well as a good sized leather pouch attached to her belt on one side, and a sword on the other. The woman in front of him now screamed danger and sexiness all rolled into one. It didn't help matters as for what was occurring out of sight below the table. The girl between his knees had initially stopped her work, freezing as another voice was heard in the booth. That had only lasted a moment though before she went right back to it, utterly silent as she worked to earn her treat for her efforts. "I felt that I needed to be with the men more than some ball with people that all look down their noses at me." He felt the need to defend his actions even though he didn't think he owed this woman anything. "What is it exactly that we still needed to discuss anyways?" He began to sweat as he body couldn't help but react to what he was receiving below the table.

"My dear boy, what we need to discuss is us!" the temptress said with a giggle as she leaned forward. "You've intrigued me more than anyone else has in years. Ever since my husband died long ago, I've had to endure countless attempts to woo me. Yet none of those pathetic excuses for males can even hold a torch to you, and I can tell that from one conversation. There is no way I'm letting you get away that easily" she cooed as she pulled a dagger from her shoulder strap, spinning it effortlessly in her fingers while keeping her full attention on him.

"Besides" she said, licking her lips as she examined his face and body again in the better lighting, "I haven't had been on 'a good ride' for nearly a decade now and my dry spell stops tonight." She ignored him as he stiffened, choosing instead to knock on the table between them. "You heard that right dear? I'll need him tonight so please don't go past the first round." Two knocks answered her back, causing her to smile contentedly as she casually raised her leg to place it across his seat in front of the curtain, conveniently blocking his escape route. "Let's make this a night to remember!"

Naruto whimpered at the look in her eyes.


	7. Chapter 7

You Have Your Demons and I Have Mine

Chapter 7: The Walk of Shame Knows No Gender

 **A/N: There's some lemon stuff in the first part of this chapter, poorly written too. You have been doubly warned… o.O**

Naruto stumbled as he concentrated on walking in a straight line down the side of the dirt road back to the Hawks camp outside the city. The young man pulled his coat tighter around his shoulders, hunching slightly as he kept his eyes on the road. He still was feeling light headed and nauseous, well past the normal time a hangover would usually disappear for him. His headache pounded so loudly that he could swear he could hear his pulse. He could barely even recall the last few minutes he spent at the bar before things took a turn for the worse that night.

 _Naruto slowly drank his beer, his mind trying to concentrate on anything else besides what was going on presently in front of him. Jessica had ordered three consecutive rounds of drinks for them as the night continued, forcing him to match her pull for pull. Her coat and corset had disappeared, as if by magic, leaving her in a white button down shirt that barely fit over her generous bust line. She continued to drone on about various court intrigue, interspersed with seemingly random questions related to the battles he had participated in. She had made a game out of guessing what his role had been in each one, undoing a button on her shirt every time she one wrong, while demanding the blonde do the same if she guessed right. Naruto was barely even able to concentrate on her questions near the half hour mark, her shirt unbuttoned so far down that he could see her belly button, clearly visible on a toned stomach with the vague outline of a six pack._

 _To make matters worse, the blonde server had not let up on her blow job the entire time, only getting more enthusiastic as he began to sweat and twitch as he tried to hold back. She took this as a personal compliment to her skills, increasing the suction being applied to the point that he wondered if she actually intended to try to draw his testicles out through his shaft. Jessica had found the young man's predicament absolutely hilarious, so much that she reached down to run her hands through the girls curly blonde locks, massaging her scalp. The girl was so happy at the double dose of attention that she actually began to hum in pleasure, providing the final sensation to throw Naruto over the edge. He tried maintaining eye contact with the dangerous beauty across from him, but as his release finally came, he threw back his head with his eyes closed, unable to concentrate on anywhere but what was happening under the table. The poor server's cheeks bulged out as they filled up, unable to contain all of the semen shot into her mouth as a trickle escaped down her cheek and into her cleavage. She swallowed everything in her mouth before going back to sucking, working to get anything left over in the dick and extending his pleasure at the same time._

 _Jessica acted fast as the blonde threw his head back, withdrawing a small vial of clear liquid from the valley between her breasts. She quickly uncorked it and poured the contents in Naruto's drink, stirring it with her pinky before leaning back in her chair again as the blonde began to collect himself after his orgasm. Jessica smiled at his relieved expression, his eyes concentrating on her again as if surprised she hadn't done anything to him in his moment of weakness. The black haired woman pulled the girl back up next to her, allowing the wench a moment to collect herself. She noticed a thin trail of liquid trailing from the girls mouth, her nostrils flaring and telling her exactly what the liquid was. The dangerous lady made a show of pulling the girl to her and kissing her deeply as she used her tongue to sweep the girls lips and the inside of her mouth for any residue. She heard Naruto clear his throat and adjust himself, causing her to smile into the kiss. After making sure she had recovered every drop inside the blonde woman's mouth, Jessica pulled back slightly before placing kisses down her chin and neck, slurping lightly each time to get more of the wonderful flavor. She finished with dipping her her finger between the blonde's breasts, before bringing the digit up and sucking on it in a show of ecstasy._

 _With her work finished, she watched out of the corner of her eyes as Naruto chugged his beer down in an attempt to hide that he was so hot and bothered. She handed the serving wench another silver coin, ordering another round of drinks and swatting the girl on the ass as she left the booth. The blonde couldn't believe how sexy the scene he had just viewed was, and that was considering that was on first name basis with the camp whores. His vision began to swim as Jessica began talking again, her voice beginning to enter into his ear and fly around in his head as he worked to stay awake._

'I can't remember what happened after that for the life of me' Naruto reflected as he continued on. He had rarely ever hit the stage of blackout drunkenness before with his advanced healing factor, and he always knew the signs that it was coming long before it happened. The fuzzy memory about the events was a new occurrence for him as he tried to piece together the events. He subconsciously rubbed his wrists as he made sure that no one was coming too near to him as he walked. The rope burns tingling as the began to slowly heal the dark red marks on his arms and legs. He had woken up alone in a cabin at the edge of town with his clothes in a pile in the corner. The room reeked of sex, the open window barely doing anything to hide it.

 _Naruto blinked his eyes, confused at the change in surroundings. One minute he was at the bar with Jessica, drinking as she talked about which wife was cheating on which noble when he remembered laying his head on the table as it grew heavy. He had just closed his eyes for a moment, but now he stared up at a strange ceiling, a head board of a bed peeking into the top of his view if he rolled his eyes upwards. He panicked as he realized that he was unable to move his arms and legs, his hands tied together and pulled taunt above his head, while his legs were pulled apart and tied off under the bed, leaving him spread eagle. He shivered as the breeze from an open window hit his bare skin, letting him know his clothing had disappeared. The moon's placement in the sky telling him that it was about five hours before dawn at that point in the night._

 _He turned his head as the door creaked open, showing Jessica as she made her way inside, wearing nothing but a small smile and holding a small candle that provided the only real illumination in the room. Her eyes practically glowed in the light as she walked to the bed, drinking in the blonde's form as she went. He unconsciously did the same as he struggled in his bindings, unable to keep himself from admiring the perfect shape of her breasts and the subtle flair of her hips below her small waist. She had a small black triangle of pubic hair above her lower entrance, and her ass perfectly bubbled out before connecting to a pair of thick yet toned thighs. Small scars showed in different places on her body, showing that she was familiar to battles, be they with man or beast, yet adding to her beauty instead of detracting from it._

 _He came back to reality as she grabbed a hold of his cock, pumping it as she leaned in to kiss each of his abdominal muscles, trailing kisses up to his nipple before biting it hard enough to make him yelp out. "You can yell as loud as you want. We're far enough outside of the city that no one will hear you" she murmured between kisses as she continued to trail them up to the junction where his neck met his shoulder, biting down hard enough to draw blood. She stood back up, licking her lips as she walked to the head of the bed. She turned away from the blonde before stepping up on the bed and placing a foot on each side of his chest. She squatted down, rubbing her sex on his chest and leaving a small trail of moisture as she sunk to her knees. She looked over her shoulder at him, grinning as she lowered her pussy onto his face, pushing past the point of comfort until he was unable to see or hear anything, his attempts to gasp for breath muffled in her flesh as he was deprived of oxygen. She let him squirm under her for a few minutes before raising up enough for him to get a gasping breath. "If you want air, then you'll have to earn it" she said, before slamming her nether regions back onto his face and enveloping him in darkness again. He stuck his tongue out tentatively, surprised at how good the taste was before giving her a long lick from her clit to the inside of her pussy. She hummed in pleasure, leaning forward slightly and allowing him to take another breath before pushing back again. She took what she wanted from him for the next half hour, riding herself to multiple orgasms while absentmindedly playing with his shaft, just enough to keep him aroused, but not enough to get anywhere close to release. "You've done good so far my Foxy warrior" she purred after coming down from her latest high, allowing him to try to catch his breath again. "I think the aphrodisiac that I slipped you is almost fully in effect too." She lightly flicked the tip of his penis, observing how it was growing almost an angry purple color from the blood flowing to it. "You ate all of your meal and even cleaned the plate" she giggled from the mental image. "Now you just have to have desert and I'll give you something special afterwards."_

 _The blonde gasped in a huge breath of air as she lowered himself again. He knew air would be in a short supply as she assumed her favorite position, pressing his face as far into her as it would go. He immediately began licking as she shifted, hoping to get her off fast. "No, no, no naughty fox, that's not your meal" she said, confusing him before she continued to shift forward until her other hole was directly over his mouth. He sealed his lips tight, refusing to debase himself anymore for her sick pleasures. She raised an eyebrow at his stubbornness, before smiling as she sat upright, leaving his face trapped between her ass cheeks as he tried to draw breath. "Just wait Foxy" she whispered as she wiggled her butt back and forth, sinking him farther in as she tightened up her leg and ass muscles. "I always get what I want sooner or later." His body began to twitch as the lack of oxygen set in, twisting as he attempted to throw her off. She held her position, watching as his struggles grew weaker until he went limp under her. She began to grow worried that she had gone too far when she felt something hot and warm slide over her butthole before piercing it. "That's a good boy Foxy!" she cheered as she lifted up, listening to him wheeze as he tried to get badly needed air inside of him before sitting back down again. This time his tongue went right to work again, sending her to a new level of pleasure she had ever felt. She had never experienced this before, having heard a noble woman describe it and deciding she had to try it out herself. As she felt her first anal orgasm hit her, she knew that she would be doing this again soon if she had her way._

" _You've done well Foxy" she said, leaning forward off of his face as she untied his legs from the bed, before tieing his ankles together. She leaned back, reaching over him to cut the rope from the bed frame, leaving his wrists tied together. She pushed herself off of him and stood on wobbly legs, before making her way to the other side of the room and sitting down in a simple chair she had placed next to a table that held the candle. "Come on over here baby" she called out. "Do hurry up. You don't want me to have to discipline you again." Naruto shivered at the thought, before noticing that the door was closer to him than where she was sitting across the room. He felt weak as a kitten from the drink earlier and the oxygen deprivation, but mustered his strength and rolled off of the bed. He began to hop desperately towards the door when he heard a loud snap inches from his head. "Stop right there Foxy" Jessica said in a sing song voice, her hand holding a long black whip as she leaned forwards in her chair. "This can go one of two ways. Either you.." Naruto didn't wait for her to finish, hopping madly towards the door. He received a lash across his back mere inches from escape, a long red welt appearing across his shoulders as he sank to his knees in pain. "Choice B:Pain it is" she said with a smile, sending another strike out, this time across his ass. He yelped, falling on his side and curling in a ball to hide himself. "Now come over here like a good boy. On your knees" she ordered, smiling as he inched over to her. She cracked her whip again as he stopped before her' "kiss my feet Foxy." He fell forward, his lips smacking on her feet as she squirmed in delight before spreading her legs wide open and sliding her ass to the end of the chair. "It's time to go back for another course dear." His hesitation was met with another crack of the whip, causing him to practically hurl himself between her legs in his rush to please her. She let him continue for over an hour, her whip providing the incentive to keep him from straying away from her core._

 _When she was satisfied, she grabbed his hair. Pulling hard, she hurled him to the floor in front of here. Drawing her knife, she sliced the bindings on his legs, freeing his movement. She sauntered over to the bed, climbing onto it on all fours before arching her back and shaking her ass at him. "You're free to go if you want Sir Naruto. But I'm right here waiting for you if you wish to continue."_

 _Naruto wanted nothing more than to run out the door, escaping from the demon in a woman's body who had her way with him that night. Yet the first few steps taken when he got to his feet where in her direction, not the door. His face scrunched up in confusion, unable to understand why his body was disagreeing with his brain on the clearly rational choice. He inhaled deeply, smelling only her sent from her essence spread all over his face. He tried swallowing the extra saliva built up in his mouth, only to realize it still tasted like her juices. He could hear her labored breathing as he saw her whither on the bed, waiting for him to enter the two holes she presented in his direction. The lower half of his body took over control of his motor reflexes, needing relief in the worst possible way. He climbed up behind her, gripping her neck with his tied hands before sliding fully into her in one push. She gasped as she was split open for the first time in years, her body trying to adjust to his size. He gave her no time, thrusting like a raging animal at the feeling of how soft yet firmly she was gripping him. He only wanted more, refusing to let up for anything. His first release in her felt like an explosion. His release pushing her over the edge as well. Yet he didn't slow down at all, maintaining the same size and girth as he continued thrusting. She turned her head, looking over her shoulder at the blonde man. His eyes were blank, his face a mixture of pain and pleasure as he tried to find relief for his overstimulated cock inside of her. 'This promises to be a good night' she thought happily as she laid her head down on her arms, content to let him do the work for the foreseeable future._

Naruto was snapped out of his thoughts as he jumped to the side, avoiding a cart as it trundled down the road back towards town. He had unconsciously wandered to the center of the road as he walked, unmindful of the traffic until it was almost too late. The blonde cringed suddenly as the driver snapped his whip at the mule, causing the boy to reflexively curl his shoulders before realizing what happened. An unconscious anger rose in him, causing his eyes to fly to the road. The diver cracked his whip again, standing to pull on the reins when a small stone beaned him in the side of the head, causing him to fall over backwards into the wagon. The mule happily continued on down the road, not fearing the unconscious man any longer.

For his part, Naruto ducked his head from the onlookers' gazes before hurrying down the road. He arrived at the outskirts of the camp, glad most of the men were still asleep. He got some strange stares from the guards, but none wandered close enough to start questioning him, figuring it wasn't their business. He pulled the cloak tighter as he made his way towards his tent, a bucket of water retrieved along the way to help wash away the shame of the night before. Only one person saw his face as the cloak fell away while he walked into his home, the young girl heading back to the tent of the 'ladies of the camp' and informing the woman in charge of what she had seen. The brunette woman frowned at the description of her usually partner in crime, his actions reminding her a little too much of how some of her girls acted after coming back from a rough night at work. She thanked the teen for the information before walking to the blonde's tent with a purpose in her step. She entered swiftly without knocking, causing the man to give a shout of surprise as he tried to throw on a robe near himself to hide his body. She had already seen too much though, crossing over to swiftly bring his head to her bosom as she stood protectively over him, her hand running through his hair as he slowly relaxed into her arms, before his own tentatively encircled her waist as he buried his head into her stomach. The brunette woman stood there as he shook, letting out his stress into her stomach before dragging him over to the bucket. She pulled off his robe, leaving him bare as she kneeled next to him. She began washing his back, watching with fascination as the marks on it began to fade away while she listened to him tell his story.

When he finished, she dried him off and dressing him before leading him to his bed. She laid him down, before joining him there. Her head rested on his shoulder as she lay there, offering nothing but companionship and expecting nothing in return. "Believe it or not, but our girls tend to go through that at least once every other month or so. It doesn't go so far as rape, but when you have no control over the situation it's a very fine line between that and sex."

He raised his head up from the bed, looking at her in shock. He had always assumed that it only happened like when he was with them, fun was had by all and everyone left happy. "I had no idea he murmured. How do you deal with it to make sure wouldn't happen again?"

She shrugged, one hand running over his chest, playing with the muscles. "There isn't much we can do. We try to not be available for that man again, but if we did that for all of them that are rough, we wouldn't have business anymore."

Naruto shook his head, unable to accept that as a solution. "That won't happen anymore. You're members of this army too as far as I'm concerned since you perform an essential function. If someone does anything like this again, you tell me immediately. I don't take kindly to someone fucking with our supplies, and I sure as hell won't let them do that to a fellow Hawk."

The burnette smiled as she raised her head up to catch the blonde's lips in a lingering kiss, promises of more to come later buried in it. "I'll tell the girls when I get back to the tent. For now, let's just stay here for a bit."

Naruto nodded, his eyes already closing as he felt the soft warm body press up against him.

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Naruto walked through the castle grounds, his eyes scanning for Griffith and Guts. He had been sent by Casca to locate them. It was time to plan the next offensive for the Hawks before they were placed somewhere else by Midland. They intended to drain Tudor's local armies dry of their assets in the area before they moved on. Naruto spied his friend and brother halfway up a set of stairs, talking on a small landing. They waved to him, inviting him to join them before spinning around at the sound of a group approaching.

Naruto spied the King leading the royal party across the grounds, stopping from climbing the stairs as his majesty made his way down. He listened as Griffith accepted the King's compliments about the Hawks' performance, grinning as his brother preened under the praise while trying to look cool. The King continued on with his brother Julius in tow, now approaching the blonde at the base of the stairs. "Sir Naruto!" the King greeted the kneeling blonde, gesturing for him to rise up. "We noticed that you left the ball rather early. We were disappointed at your absence until one of my retainers mentioned that he saw you with Lady Jessica on the balcony. We are happy to see her take an interest in someone again. We had feared she had hardened her heart to any attempts made towards her by our subjects."

"Thank you for understanding your majesty" Naruto said with a bow of his head. "I admit to being slightly overwhelmed at the event when I grew up around a campfire with fellow mercenaries. The lady noticed my discomfort when I took refuge outside and engaged me in conversation. I ended up being too distracted to even remember to return afterwards."

Julius snorted in laughter at the blonde's excuse. "I'm sure you were distracted from what I hear. Even I was turned down by her years ago before I found my wife. Did she make a man out of you Headhunter?" he asked, leering at the blonde.

Naruto cringed slightly, looking around before leaning in to the men. "A gentleman never tells but it was a wonderful time that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy." He felt a shiver down his spine, as if someone heard that who shouldn't have.

Julius smirked while the King laughed long and hard at the joke, wiping a tear from his eye. "Keep up the good work Sir Naruto" he clapped the blonde on the shoulder before continuing on. Naruto offered a slight bow to General Julius, getting a nod of respect in return before the man continued off after his brother. A moment later Princess Charlotte went running by, stopping to curtsy at the blonde before continuing after her father and uncle. Naruto smiled up at Griffith, glad he was able to distract the men from the incident up the stairs. Griffith had caught Charlotte as she fell, with them sharing a moment afterwards as he held her in his arms before she hurried off with a blush. Naruto offered white haired friend a thumbs up while Guts clapped him on the back. Both brothers glad their commander/friend had made another small step towards his goal.

The air seemed to grow cold around Naruto for a moment, causing him to look around wildly. Across the castle grounds, he spotted a lone figure standing on a balcony observing him from a distance. Squinting his eyes caused him to freeze up in fear as he realized that Lady Jessica was leaning over the rail grinning at him. She held up his shirt, taking a large sniff of her prize from the night before. Upon seeing the message was received, she turned back towards the door while using extra emphasis on her swaying hips to draw the blonde's eyes to her rump. Naruto's mouth went dry as memories of his time the night before came to the surface again. He woodenly turned away and began to make his way out of the castle. Guts and Griffith looked at each other in confusion before hurrying after the blonde, confused at what could possibly be causing him to act that way.

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Naruto breathed a sigh of relief as he leaned back in his saddle, thrilled to be back in the countryside as the Hawks rode off to their next battle. The added benefit of getting the hell away from the city and his new friend in court had nothing to do with it at all, not one bit. His friends began to relax as they watched the blonde's personality slowly begin to return to normal. They were all concerned with how squirrely he had been acting back at the garrison camp, jumping at every loud sound, especially whip cracks.

Naruto squinted as he spied the castle in the distance. This was the gateway fortress into Tudor lands that had been captured from Midland during previous wars. The Hawks intended to smash it open before they moved on, grabbing the glory for themselves. They already had the King's favor for their earlier timely saves on the battlefield. This would just be icing on the cake.

The castle would be a tough nut to crack, a gatehouse being the part nearest to the Hawks that opened up to a large drawbridge over a deep river before you reached the real castle. The bridge made for the perfect killing field, allowing the invaders to be fired down upon by both the castle defenders as well as any archers still on top of the gatehouse. Griffith set up camp on the other side of the last set of hills, shielding the army from the castle. "I have a plan" he said as he gathered the commanders around the map table. "It's going to require precision and good team work from all parties involved." He looked at Guts, "You and the Raiders will be crossing upstream and going in behind enemy lines. Are you comfortable with that?" Guts snorted, crossing his arms as he nodded. He was ready for a fight as soon as possible. Naruto rolled his eyes at his brother's denseness before paying attention as Griffith continued on. "The rest of us" he indicated Casca, Rickert, Corkus, Pippin and Judeau "will be leading the Hawks to the top of the hills to act as a distraction. We'll look like we're attacking but no one goes forward until the signal from Guts is given." He turned to Naruto "follow Guts into the castle, then break off and do what you do best." Naruto grinned at his favorite kind of orders. He gave a thumbs up before hurrying off after his brother towards the river.

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Guts picked at his chest piece, trying to adjust he too small Tudor armor to fit somewhat comfortably on his large frame. The fact that he wore a Tudor captain's cloak was the only reason he could even pull off the ruse. He and his men had dressed in captured Tudor armor that had survived naruto's raid on the forward outpost earlier that week. Now they rode down the road 'from Tudor' towards the back of the castle, he and his brother leading the column. They could already hear the Hawks causing a racket, the first phase of the plan already in effect.

The back entrance to the castle was practically deserted as they approached it. Only two guards at the doors, and one archer on overwatch duty above were left there, everyone else sent to reinforce the side with the enemy army facing it. Naruto spurred his horse forward, knowing that his brother's acting skills were abysmal at best, much like his personality and sense of humor. "We're here to reinforce the castle" he said in way of greeting, his hand raised as he trotted forward. "Command said that an enemy force was seen about a day away."

The guards lowered their pikes as the one in charge shook his head in disgust. "That's just like command to be so far off with their estimate. That army is already here and making a nuisance of themselves. We're just glad you guys made it before it's too late. The general will be thrilled to see you." He turned to the archer, waving up a signal to him. "Open the Gates!" he called out. "Friendly reinforcements coming through!"

Naruto had ridden back to Guts as the gates swung open for them. "Don't kill the general. If you can, let him escape."

Guts stared at his brother like he lost his mind. "What the fuck!" he whispered fiercely. "Why the hell would I do that?"

His brother grinned at him. "I recognize the sigil. It's the same dumbass that let me take the outpost single handedly before he shit himself and ran off. Trust me, its better having him in charge than someone competent." He laughed before rushing forwards, pinning the two guards to the doors with a pair of daggers before rushing into the castle, closely followed by Guts and the rest of the Raiders.

Naruto broke off from the Raiders as they broke out into the parade ground, slaughtering any enemies unlucky enough to be standing around. The blonde ran towards the castle proper before they could seal it up, killing the door guards and jamming the gates controls to stop the portcullis from being dropped. Afterwards, he headed down into the basement in an attempt to avoid general Adon for as long as possible. He could hear the battle rage as he grabbed a torch and followed the darkened pathways. Noticing a horrible stench coming from a hallway branching to the left, he followed his instincts and decided to investigate it. The hallway came out into a network of cells, all of them packed to the gills with hundreds of mercenaries. Naruto signaled them to be quiet as he snuck towards the guard station, seeing twenty men in various states of relaxation. The battle noise didn't reach that far underground.

Knowing he needed to divide and conquer, he looked back to the prisoners, catching most of their attention. He pantomimed calling out and pointed at the guards before walking his fingers towards the hallways. The men grinned before beginning to shout. The volume so great that Naruto could have dropped his sword and not have been overheard. The guards looked up in alarm, before grabbing their gear and running to various cells to see what the issue was, leaving five of them behind. Naruto made short work of them with throwing knives and a slit throat. He proceeded to stalk down the hallways, executing the distracted guards as he came across them. The prisoners took the opportunities as they presented themselves, pulling the guard corpses towards the bars before relieving them of cell keys and weaponry.

The cells were free and men flooded the hallways by the time Naruto had killed the last guard. He noticed the men had surrounded him, but made no threatening moves as they waited for orders. The blonde watched as the prisoners parted, allowing a huge man through with a strong resemblance to Pippen. "Thank you for the rescue stranger, but why did you come to help us?"

Naruto scratched his head in embarrassment, "honestly I didn't even know you guys were here. We're pushing Tudor out of the castle right now and I was looking for targets of opportunity. Who are you guys anyways and why were you locked up?"

The man gestured to himself, "My name is Tipon," he gestured to the men around him, "and these are what is left of the Second Sons. We were made up of noble sons born too far down to get inheritance and bastards from kingdoms all over. Tudor stated they wanted to hire us, but set an ambush at this castle, killing our men from Tudor and jailing the rest of us for ransom. This was a week ago."

Naruto whistled to himself before his face screwed up in a frown at what was said. "Wait… you're telling me that they killed the sons of their own nobles? That's the dumbest idea I've ever heard. Who came up with that plan?"

Tipon shrugged before one of the men shouted out "It was some dumbass blonde general with a crew cut. He kept talking about secret family techniques."

Naruto laughed to himself as he heard that description, causing confusion among the prisoners. He proceeded to tell them of his raid, finishing with his description of General Adon and his galant retreat. "You're from the Band of the Hawk?" a voice questioned him from the crowd.

Naruto grinned, pulling off the Tudor armor to show his Hawk gear underneath. "That's right! I'm Naruto Uzumaki of the Band of the Hawk." He bowed with a flourish of his commander's cape.

"The Headhunter" Tipon murmured almost reverently, his words echoed by the others as they pushed forwards to get a better look at the celebrity in their midst. "Would the Hawks be open to new recruits? It's time I made a change, and I'm sure most of the others would agree." His statement was met with cheers that echoed up and down the halls.

"I'm guessing we already won since no one is coming to investigate the noise" Naruto observed. He shook himself "I don't have a problem with it and we always want competent people. Let me check with Griffith. Let's get out of here and head to the surface." He received back slaps and thank yous from the men as he passed through them before leading them back to the surface. He held up his hand as they came to the exit, stopping the others. "Let me go first and make sure everything is calm" he said addressing the men. "The last thing we want is friendly fire."

He walked out into the courtyard just in time to watch Griffith and Guts dismount in the center of the courtyard before clasping hands to the cheers of the men. He started walking their way, throwing a knife at a surviving enemy before anyone else even registered him. "You missed one little brother" he called out, getting a scowl from Guts. "Congratulations on taking the fort so easily though. Did the fat ass escape?"

Guts smirked as he nodded to his brothers question. "One of the men saw him floating off down the river like a piece of garbage. He ran the moment he saw our sigil without even trying to fight." He paused as he noticed that Naruto barely had any blood on him. "What were you up to brother? You look like you hardly put in any work at all. Did you find a corner to go take a nap in?"

Naruto flipped his brother off, causing him to let out a belly laugh, as he signaled to Griffith that he needed to talk. "What's wrong Naruto? The capture went perfectly." Griffith asked with concern in his voice.

"Do you remember how mad you were when I brought five hundred men to join us back after we performed that raid on the army at night?"

Griffith nodded slowly, his features changing to horror as he glared at the blonde. "What Did You Do Naruto?!"

Naruto chuckled nervously, backing away until he bumped into Guts. The big man having taken position behind his brother to prevent him from running. "I may have rescued six hundred mercenaries from the dungeon that all want to join us now…" He ducked the punch Guts swung at his head before catching the flat part of Griffith's rapier upside his helmet, knocking him to the dirt.

Griffith stood over him, a scowl on his features as the commanders wandered up to find out what was going on. "What the hell am I supposed to do with six hundred new people Naruto?" he asked in exasperation, causing gasps from his comrades. Casca took the opportunity to kick the blonde in the side again while he lay there. It really had started to become therapeutic for her.

Naruto gave him a blank stare "Umm… I don't know…. Use them? It's the remaining six hundred men from the Second Sons. They aren't green and they already understand life as a mercenary. You pretty much put me in charge of recruiting unofficially and I did what you asked. How the hell else am I supposed to do this job?"

Griffith ran his pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes in frustration. "This many at once is never easy to handle and you know it. Don't try playing dumb with me." the blonde's sheepish grin let him know he had gotten through. "Fine… let's go give them the speech. You can figure out what to do with them when we get back to our base."

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General Adon fumed to himself as he sat cross legged on his escape raft as it slowly floated down the river. "I can't believe this happened to me again! First the Headhunter terrorizes my command, and now the Raider Captain seized my command from under my nose." He cringed, thinking about how he was going to explain this loss away to his superiors. "I'm asking for a transfer when I get back. I want a post away from the front lines where I don't have to deal with any fucking Hawks." He paused, a feeling of worry passing through him. "I feel like I'm forgetting something important…"


	8. Chapter 8

You Have Your Demons and I Have Mine

Chapter 8: Don't Anger a Hawk

Guts sighed to himself as he watched another noble charge by in pursuit of the fox they had been chasing for hours now. The man was so fat that he jiggled obscenely as attempted to hang on to the horse, not even bothering to try to steer it with any kind of skill. 'This is supposed to be an honor?' he asked himself as he rejoined Casca and Pippen back on the perimeter of the hunting grounds. "Can this get any more boring?" he whined as he hunched in his saddle.

Corkus's ears perked up as he looked over at his most hated comrade. How such a surly bastard could be related to Naruto, he would never know. "Do you have a problem with what we're currently doing?" he asked slowly, trying to verify if he had heard the stupid bastard correctly.

Guts ignored his tone, staring forlornly off into the distance at some imagined battlefield that he wanted to join. "It just feels like a waste of my time to sit here and babysit nobles while there is a war going on." He glanced over at Corkus, speaking again to cut off the man's prepared tirade. "I know this is supposed to be a privilege, something that we had to work our assess off for that is usually only reserved for the White Dragon Knights. You can't tell me you aren't still bored as hell though. I know you'd rather be off at a whore house just as much as I'd rather be in a battlefield."

Corkus sputtered, red in the face as the attention of his fellow commanders was turned onto him. "I don't know what you're talking about" he sputtered. "Though it is nice to see you appreciate the struggles of the Hawks considering you and your brother came so late to the party." He pointed up the sky, before sweeping his hand over the fields before him. "We used to spend our nights sleeping in ditches out in the rain because we couldn't afford tents. We would sweep the same fields that we had to battle on for any kind of wild berries to supplement our food supplies. Believe me when I say that this is heaven compared to back then."

Guts nodded in understanding, glancing over his shoulder to see the rest of his friends were silent, watching this surprisingly civil conversation unfold in front of them. "I spoke to Naruto a while ago about what I was looking for in life and he described something called the 'pyramid of needs'. He said that since we had such shitty childhoods, we were more than content with simply getting paid for our hard work and being able to defend ourselves from our enemies after being weak and at their mercy for so long. That's the point you were trying to make too right?" he asked, turning back to Corkus. "That you lived bad for so long that we should appreciate what we've earned since then?"

Corkus swallowed heavily, not having heard his views explained so well before. "Your brother's a smarter man than I gave him credit for. That was exactly the point I was trying to get across. I may want more out of life, but I'm more than content to be where I'm at now."

Guts turned back to watch the hunt, silent as he contemplated Corkus's words. "I can understand that but my problem is that I'm not sure if I want more out of life than where I'm at now. I really feel I'm at my best on a battlefield and it's something I enjoy being in. It worries me that I can't think of anything I want more." He glanced up at Griffith, sitting on his horse at the top of the nearby hill with the rest of the royal entourage. "I see Griffith and Naruto, both who grew up just as bad as us, but they aren't happy with their lot in life now. Even after achieving knighthood, Griffith still wants to eventually have his own kingdom and will settle for nothing less. I still don't know what Naruto's end game is even after spending most of my life with him, just that the Hawks won't be the place he eventually settles in. He's beginning to grow restless already" he finished in a near whisper.

Casca had to forcibly remind herself to close her jaw, so stunned was she at the profound feelings Guts had just laid out. 'I guess that spot between his ears isn't just another muscle after all' she mused before she glanced around at the other Hawks surrounding them. "Speaking of Naruto, where did he run off to now?" she asked as she scanned around for the familiar head of blonde hair that she could identify anywhere.

Guts smirked as he gestured back towards the royal party. "Take a look at the tree Griffith is under with the Princess." Casca follow his line of sight, her eyes widening as she saw a leg swing lazily from a tree branch, the rest of the body hidden by the foliage. "He's been up there for a while now" Guts supplied. "He's keeping an eye on things in his own way."

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Said blonde was bored out of his mind as he watched the hunt from his spot in the tree. He trained his crossbow on the nobles as they rode, imagining picking off each one of them in a new and more funny way than the last. A musical note brought his attention below him, causing him to smile in amusement as he watched Griffith try to teach the princess how to use a leaf to carry a tune. It looked fun enough that he plucked a leaf of his own before mimicking the white haired boy's technique and getting a surprisingly good note from it. He soon began to play various nursery rhymes that he knew from his childhood, stopping to whistle the pitches he couldn't achieve on his leaf.

Feeling eyes on him, he glanced down only to realize he had an audience. Griffith watched him with a mixed look of amusement and exasperation. He hadn't even been aware that the blonde was up there the entire time. Princess Charlotte gazed up at him in delight, thrilled to see another side of the man besides what used to haunt her dreams as the boogeyman of the nobles. "Can you play 'three blind mice'?" she asked in excitement. Naruto did her one better, signalling to Griffith to play it and whistling along once the tune started. The Princess clapped in excitement at her impromptu concert, happy she had finally decided to attend a hunt with her father.

"Thank you for the assistance Sir Naruto. But isn't there somewhere you have to be right now?" Griffith asked, shifting his eyes to the Princess. Naruto grinned, picking up on the hidden meaning of 'go the fuck away' from his friend.

He fell backwards off of the branch to the Princess's alarm, only to land in the saddle of his horse that had been grazing under the tree. "Until next time we meet your highness" he said, sweeping his arm across the chest while bowing. He trotted his horse to Griffith, blocking the Princess's line of sight with his friends body. "Sorry" he whispered, "She wasn't supposed to even find out I was there. Give her this to get her favor again." He reached into his saddlebag, pulling out a piece of paper folded to look like a Hawk in the middle of a dive. He covered it with a handkerchief before handing it to his commander and riding off onto a trail through the trees. Griffith turned back to his target, the gift held up and gaining her attention in an instant. She pulled back the handkerchief before shouting in delight and grabbing the hawk from his grasp. Forgetting decorum, she leaned in to give him a hug of gratitude.

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Casca sighed as she watched Griffith receiving his hug, flashing him a thumbs up while Guts, Corkus, and Judeau all cheered quietly for him. A few years ago she would have been heartbroken seeing Griffith showing interests in another woman. 'Now, I'm not sure what I want anymore…' she reflected, stealing a look at Guts before turning to watch Naruto as he rode off along the perimeter.

The blonde Hawks commander kept himself busy riding along the outskirts of the hunt zone, ducking in and out of the tree line to make sure it was empty. He had just turned to make his way back when a scream was heard. Princess Carlotte's horse had been startled by a boar causing it to charge uncontrolled down the hill. Naruto held off from engaging noticing that Griffith was already in pursuit. The blonde counted to ten before heading off himself, allowing his commander a good enough head start for some heroics, but not letting him get too far to provided support. Griffith had the reins in his hand by five seconds, the horse stopped at 7 seconds, and the princess in his arms by 9 seconds. 'Good work Griffith!' the blonde mentally cheered for his friend before his eyes saw a flash of light. "GRIFFITH!" he shouted out as the crossbow bolt flew true, the white haired young man barely able to jerk to the side before the bolt impaled in his chest. Naruto wanted nothing more to run his friend like the rest of the Hawks, but knew he had work to do. He veered off into the trees, his horse galloping at full speed.

Jacob breathed out a sigh of relief as the Hawks' Raider Commander turned back around from his search in his haste to see if his leader was still alive. 'How could he still live!?' the man seethed as he loaded his crossbow with another poisoned bolt. 'He won't survive a shot to the head at least' he reflected as he wound the string back, the tension as high as he would go. He had no warning that he wasn't alone in his thicket. One moment he was aiming down his bolt sight, and the next was nothing but darkness.

Griffith looked up from his spot on the ground to see Naruto coming out of the woods. The blonde had a look of relief on his face as he spotted his friend holding up the behelit, a clear nick shown from where it had deflected the bolt. "I'm glad that creepy ass piece of jewelry was good for something after all" he said as he dismounted next to the group. Nobles and guards began to gather around them, everyone wanting to see what the commotion had been about.

Griffith ignored all of them, his eyes boring into Naruto's as he tried to read the blonde's expression. "Is everything taken care of?" he asked, attempting to be cryptic.

Naruto shook his head negatively, glancing at the onlookers. "Not yet, but it will be. You should escort the princess back to her father now that the hunt is over. People need to see that you're still alive and well."

"And what will you be doing in the meantime?" Griffith asked as he climbed up onto his horse, maneuvering it closer to Charlotte's incase it got spooked again.

Naruto looked around at the group before beckoning for Guts, Casca, Corkus, Pippen, and Judeau to accompany him. "I'm going to be getting you some answers. I'll seek you out for a decision before we act on anything."

The leader of the Hawks nodded in acceptance before turning and leading the Princess's horse slowly away. Said girl turned back to offer the blonde a quick wave and a small smile, before turning back to talk Griffith's ear off about her latest brush with death.

"So what are we really doing?" Guts asked as they began to ride away from the crowd, all of them following Naruto's lead as he brought them to an abandoned building a few minutes away.

"Getting some answers" his brother replied grimly as he pulled out a knife and walked towards the building.

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"I don't think you're getting exactly what kind of position you're in here my friend" Naruto said, addressing the prisoner who was tied spread eagle to a large upright wooden X. The room was lit by a single torch near where the blonde sat in a simple wooden chair as he regarded his victim. "Your situation has just become worse. This isn't going to have a happy ending for you one way or the other." The man's head lolled to the side as he tried to stay conscious, the last blow he received from the blonde having rung his bell and sent the world spinning.

Naruto shook his head in mock sympathy before grabbing a fist of the man's hair, pulling his head back so he could see across the darkened room to the opposite wall. Five black silhouettes loomed in the darkness, their shapes lost in the gloom but their eyes easy to make out. Two of the sets showed naught but apathy towards the bound man, while one shown something close to pity. The last two though, showed a towering rage that would have set the man on fire if possible, their forms clearly being held back by two of the others. "You tried to take away something very important to us when you shot our leader. Now they're each going to take away something important from you in payback. I've already taken what I want, your freedom and your future. You can tell me what I want to know and you'll die now, whole and buried in a marked grave. Or you can hold out on me and I let my friends at you. And just so you know, I'll make sure you keep living while they do it. In the end you'll end up in a ditch for the crows to feast on while you draw your last breaths." He leaned in so his mouth was right besides the man's ear before whispering "So tell me, what's your answer going to be?"

The man trembled as a puddle of urine began to collect around his feet. Loyalty be damned, he was already a dead man. "What do you want to know?" he asked, his voice barely carrying to the others.

Naruto grinned as he leaned back. "You've made the smart choice. Let's start with your name and who hired you to carry out the assassination."

The man sang like a bird for the next half hour, the whole sordid plot laid out for those in the room to hear. Pippen had begun to breath heavier as his rage began to rise, while Guts was practically frothing at the mouth. Judeau and Corkus could be seen conferring in the corner of the room, arguing over something as they both stared at the prisoner. Only Casca remained calm, her dark eyes looking like specks of flint as she contemplated the ramifications of what she had just found out.

"Well I'm done!" Naruto chirped as he stood up from his chair, before moving towards the door. "Now the others get their turns with you as well. I do believe Casca has elected to go first" he observed as the woman stepped forward while drawing a knife.

"Wait!" the man rasped as he began to panic. "You said you'd kill me cleanly!"

"Yes" said the blonde softly as he opened the door, "I did." The door shut behind him, doing nothing to drown out the pain filled screams as the rest of the commanders took their pound of flesh from the assassin.

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Guts climbed the stairs to the top room of the keep that Griffith was currently staying in. The room was meant to be in insult, its purpose was to show that even though he had been named a knight, he still wasn't allowed to live with the rest of the nobles. The berserker snorted in laughter at the thought, 'Griffith just looks at it like a hawk nest on top of a cliff, allowing him to keep an eye on his prey'. At least Naruto had the sense not to take the offer of noble accommodations, the blonde more at home staying in a tent in the field with the rest of the men.

Arriving at the top, Guts rapped on the door with his knuckles, entering after Griffith invited him in. He saw his leader sitting at a desk in the corner of the room, writing a letter while surrounded by books. His brother was in the corner with his feet propped up, devouring a thick tome dedicated to the different constellations in the sky. Guts snorted at the pair of book worms, unable to understand why they'd let their skills wain instead of working out in the practice yard. His brother read his expression perfectly, shaking his head before standing and moving towards the shelf to grab a particular volume. "I didn't spend a year teaching your dumb ass to read only for you to look down on those with education. Trust me, some stuff is worth the time."

"You never did spend enough time training anyways" Guts retorted. "It's why I was able to catch up and beat you half the time now a days." A book slammed into his chest, stopping him from continuing. He picked it up in curiosity, 'Kamasutra' he read the Kushanese title. Opening the pages showed pictures of couples in different positions of intercourse, some of which he had never even thought possible. He settled in to a comfortable position as he began to read intently.

Naruto snorted to himself as he went to sit back down and read again. "The trick little brother, is to find a subject that interests you. I read that years ago. Now you know why the ladies always want to come back to me." He gestured to the book in his lap. "This is teaching me how to navigate by the stars when I'm lost in the wild. It even lets me predict the phases of the moon so I can plan my night battles around visibility for my archers versus sneak attacks." He grinned at the intrigued look his brother was now sporting. "I'll lend it to you when I'm done. Half of these books can help you plan better for battles if you actually learn what they have to teach."

The young men went back to reading, giving Griffith the time he needed to compose his letter. He leaned back when he finished, wringing his hands in the air to relieve them of the stiffness. "Guts" he began, drawing the brothers' attention, "I need a favor. I need you to kill someone for me."

Guts blinked, before glancing at his brother in confusion. Naruto held up his hand to forestall the obvious question. "It can't be me. I'm too well know around here. I'll need to have an airtight alibi just to avoid suspicion as it is. Luckily I've been invited to the Princess's dinner party with lover boy here later tonight."

Griffith ignored the dig, choosing to continue with the request instead. "You know who tried to have me killed already. We need to kill General Julius at his home tonight before he realizes that his man has disappeared and tightens his security. Will you do this for me?"

Guts was startled by the earnest plea for help from his friend, feeling like he had to lighten the mood. "Next time just order me to do it" he said with a gentle smile before making his way out with both his and Naruto's books under his arm.

Naruto laughed to himself as he leaned back in his chair again. "I'll make a scholar out of him yet." His face turned serious as he turned to Griffith. "You heard what Casca said about Guts's epiphany earlier during the hunt right?"

Griffith nodded as he brought his hand up to his mouth in contemplation, unknowingly smearing ink on his chin. "I think he's finally ready to form his own dream instead of simply riding ours to the next destination. I had an idea to run by you that might help him, but I can't promise that you'll like it." He looked at the blonde in confusion as he watched him cover his mouth to hide his laughter. "What is the problem?" he asked, dragging his hand away from his mouth and smearing the ink further.

Naruto couldn't hold his laughter in any more, nearly falling out of his chair as he tried to regain control of himself. He picked up a mirror from the bedside table, handing it to his leader. "I didn't know could grow a goatee in such a short amount of time. The princess is going to love this new, manly side of you." He checked the sun's position through the window, "When we go to her party in one hour."

The mirror shattered as it hit the ground. Griffith was already out the door, sprinting to find a basin of water before the ink dried. Naruto's laughter could be heard following him the entire way.

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Swords drew sparks as they collided in the torch light as two individuals circled around each other, desperately trying to find an opening in their opponent's defenses. A moment of weakness caused the shorter one to hurled to the ground, a sword blade already held inches from his throat. He dared not move in fear of being cut as the other individual's eyes glared down on him in disgust. "Get back up now!" the older man growled. "The enemy won't wait for you to recover yourself. Never stop moving or you'll die."

Guts watched General Julius train his son in sword play, the man not pulling any punches as he took the fight to his boy. Guts began to zone out as the fight continued, reminiscing on how Gambino used to train Naruto and himself the same way. There was teaching someone to duel, and there was training someone to fight. One had rules while the other only cared about survival. It was good to see that Julias knew that enough to pass his wisdom on to his son, even if he was being a complete asshole about it.

As the family retired to their separate rooms, Guts leveraged himself up from his sitting position and made his way over to the balcony to Julius's suite. Guts fixed his hood, making sure that his face was hidden in the folds before dropping silently to the ground. The window was unlocked, allowing Guts to enter into the well lit, yet surprisingly sterile room. "Who are you!" he heard from his right. Julius had halted after entering the room, stunned at the intruder. He sprinted for a display case on the wall that held two swords. He had his arm up, extended to grab the sword when Guts brought his sword down diagonally nearly bifurcating the man. Julius sank to the ground in agony as his blood began to pool around him on the floor. His new angle allowed him to see up into Guts' hood, causing the dying man to gasp in surprise. "I know you…" he whispered, his last thought was the realization of how many steps Griffith was ahead of him in the game.

The Raiders commander stood back up to his full height, taking a moment to fix his hood. As he placed his sword back into his sheath, he heard a gasp from the door to the hall. Acting swiftly, Guts plowed into the door with his shoulder as he drew a dagger, sending the small figure flying as it crashed into the opposite wall. Guts stared at the unconscious form of Julius's son, Adonis, as he lay in a heap. A slight trail of blood trickled down the boy's face from a wound somewhere under his hairline. The berserker propped the boy up into a sitting position, intent on making him somewhat comfortable as he contemplated his next move. "Intruder!" a voice rang out, as an old man in monk robes came running towards him. "What have you done to Master Adonis?! Guards!"

"Tch" Guts growled to himself as he heard the clatter of armor as the manor's guard compliment roused itself. He knew that the time for sneaking was over and the time for fighting had begun. He sank the dagger into the side of the monk, causing the old man's face to lock in a rictus of silent agony. Drawing his sword with one hand, he picked up the monk's body with he other before making his way down the stairs and kicked open the door to the main foyer of the mansion. The entire room was packed tight with guards brandishing all kinds of weapons at him, the men pausing to try to make out the identity and state of his hostage. Giving them no time to do so, Guts flung the body to his right at the closest man before charging straight forward. He leapt from the balcony down to the lower level, rolling on the impact and coming up to his feet fast enough to slice clean through the waist of the guard captain. He shouldered past the next two men, breaking through the window to the outside and sprinting across the castle grounds as his pursuers gave chase.

He grunted in pain as he took an arrow to his bicep, the muscle seizing as the foreign metal embedded itself in him. Guts turned around a sharp corner, breaking the line of sight of the archers shooting at him. His eyes searched around in panic before falling on a sewer grate at the base of the wall. He kicked it open with the last of his strength before tumbling down into the darkness, cracking his head against the wall on the way. He splashed into the tepid sewage as he heard his pursuers thunder by above him, his vision going grey as he sank into the muck before everything went dark.

 _The berserker found himself back in his seven year old body as he sparred with Gambino again. A shadow enveloped him, prompting him to look back only to freeze as Zodd the Immortal stalked towards him from the darkness. Gambino pushed Guts back as he stood up to the monster, only to have his head removed from his body by the beast. Guts nealed before Gambino's body in grief, covering his eyes as he began to cry. A shift in his body caused him to open his eyes in surprise, only to see young Adonis weeping over his father's corpse. Guts realized that he was now inside of Zodd's body, still holding the sword that dripped with Julius's blood on it._

Guts woke up with a start as he felt a rat try to gnaw on his leg. He kicked the pest into the sludge, watching it sink as he tried to remember how he got there. 'That's right…' he thought as he pushed himself to his feet, leaning on the wall for support. He had done as Griffith had requested and removed a major obstacle on the way to his leader's dream. "Guess I should go report the good news" he mumbled as he began to stumble down the tunnel. His vision still spun from the hit it had took earlier, causing his progress to slow to a snail's pace. Blood dripped from his head, running down his chest which was promptly ignored as he absent mindedly pulled the arrow from his arm, widening the wound even more in the process.

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The beer hall was well lit, light reflecting off the numerous steins and mugs raised in the air by the customers. The last words of the toast still floating in the air "to our fallen comrades" as everyone sat silently in contemplation before the volume gradually increased again. The commanders of the hawks had gathered around a table in the lower level of the establishment, the upper floors reserved for officers of the regular army. Yet, no one could complain since they were finally allowed into establishments usually reserved for those above the average military grunt.

"I bet Griffith and Naruto are eatin the good stuff up at the Princess's diner party right now" Corkus reflected as he leaned back against the table. "There sure are some nice perks once you're knighted."

Judeau shook his head as he looked up from the knife he was balancing on his finger tip. "Griffith may be enjoying himself, but I'd bet money that Naruto is probably bored out of his mind right now. You know how he feels about all of that pomp and frills."

Corkus grinned happily as he attempted to steal Rickert's plate, only to pull his hand back to avoid getting stabbed with a fork. He frowned as he rubbed at the phantom pain, "You're probably right. That damn blonde never could appreciate the finer things in life. It's no wonder his ogre of a brother is so confused if that's who he has as a role model."

"Speaking of Guts, where is he?" piped up Rickert, taking a moment to scan around the hall. "I haven't seen him all day."

Casca snorted in disgust as she took a drink of her wine, her shoulders hunched as she tried to tune out the background noise around her. "His company was supposed to drill with mine today, but he never showed. He's probably slacking off again, swinging his sword somewhere in the training grounds." She listened as Corkus and Rickert continued to argue before she shivered from a draft that had entered the room. Looking for the source, she found Guts standing in the entryway as he scanned the room in search of someone. "Where have you been?" she demanded as she charged up the stairs. The others hanging back to avoid becoming the unlucky targets of her growing rage. "Do you know how bad the day turned out thanks to you?"

Her charge faltered as she came close enough to actually make out the man's appearance. To put it simply, he looked like he had swam back from a battle field through the moat. "Where's Griffith?" he murmured, his eyes barely in focus as he leaned against the door frame.

She drew back in shock, wondering what could have caused such a normally strong man to act this way. "He's probably still at the dinner party hosted by the Princess" she said with while looking over his wounds. He turned and began to shuffle back out into the night without another word. Casca signaled for the others to stay behind as she hurried after him, concern beginning to rise in her heart.

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The captain of the palace guard shivered as he leaned against the side of he building, letting the heat bleed off of it into his armor and warming him a bit from the chill outside. The autumn winds were beginning to blow in already, signalling a heavy winter would be coming this year. He thanked the gods once again that he wasn't stuck out on the front lines like all of the other poor fools. He pushed off of the wall, resuming his patrol towards his two men that were guarding the entrance to the gardens from the dance hall. Both stood at attention as he approached, their weapons held at the correct angle and eyes sharp. 'I'm glad I was able to choose my men tonight. No fools on this shift' he reflected as he nodded in approval.

A rapping on the door prompted one of the men to pull it open, revealing the form of the infamous Headhunter as he strode out. All three guards stiffened minutely as he passed by, the man being both a hero to the lower classes as well as somewhat of a boogey man depending on what side of the battlefield he was on. "Hi guys!" he chirped with a smile, "How about a hand here!" The captain leapt forward to grab the tray that the blonde knight was carrying, doing his best not to spill the contents of the mugs on it. "Thanks Captain, you guys always go the extra mile for the nobles huh?" the blonde remarked, shaking his head as he put his hands on his back and popped his spine, groaning in relief. "Looks like its cold as hell out here. Drink up boys" he said as he pulled two of the mugs off of the tray and handed them to the bewildered guards. He took the tray back from the captain before handing the man the third mug and taking the last one for himself.

"Thank you Sir Naruto" the captain said as he eyed the mug cautiously, "but we aren't allowed to drink while on duty. It's also considered very poor form for us to be relaxing with nobles like this."

The blonde shook his head with a soft smile as he looked around the grounds. "Take a look captain, no one is coming out here tonight. The only others are Sir Griffith and the Princess over by the fountain. He's a mercenary and could care less while I guarantee she hasn't even registered that anyone else is out there besides the two of them. Besides" he said as he hefted up his mug, "this won't get you drunk. It's just mead, perfect for warming someone up on a cold night like this." He raised his mug out in front of him, glancing at each of the guards. "Cheers boys."

The captain glanced at his subordinates, before shrugging and raising his mug to clink against the blonde's, the other two following suite. They all took a long pull, enjoying as the warmth spread down their throats to their stomachs, and through the rest of their bodies. "Now this is how you're supposed to spend a night" the blonde reflected as he tilted his head up to the stars. "A good drink and good company where everyone doesn't have to look down their noses at each other while holding a conversation." A snort from one of the guards brought a grin to his face as he saw the others begin to relax. "You guys know that I only was knighted a few months ago right?" At their nods he continued, "I used to do the exact same work as you, and I have to say it was way easier. You had to watch the stuffed peacocks from a distance, but they ignored you and you ignored them for the most part. Can you imagine what it's like having to talk to them now and pretend to actually care about what they have to say? I slipped away the moment Griffith had left and I wouldn't get ripped by my boss." The captain was openly laughing at this point, able to understand exactly where his fellow warrior was coming from. The guards stared on in wonder, unused to seeing either their boss or a noble ever act like normal human beings before. "I know you've probably been out on more than a few battles" Naruto said as he looked at the others, "care to share any good stories?"

The four men spent the next hour reminiscing over past glories, the guards more than interested to hear of the blonde's battles from the source himself. All of a sudden, Naruto's nostrils flared as a cold sweat formed on his brow. "Captain…" he said softly, "I think I'll need a favor from you three if you'd be so kind." At the man's inquisitive stare he continued on, "A woman will be approaching soon. Please tell her that I've left for the night if she asks about me." His eyes flickered to the distance, causing all three men to turn and look at his target. Seeing nothing, they turned back only to find the blonde gone to their surprise.

A minute later, light footsteps attracted their attention as a shape began to resolve out of the darkness into a form of a decently tall woman with black shoulder length hair wearing a white ballroom dress. "Lady Jessica!" the captain exclaimed as he bowed deeply at the waist. "How are you this evening ma'am? Is there anything we can assist you with?"

His voice faltered as she fixed him with a stare that made him feel like the size of a bug. "Let's dispense with pleasantries gentlemen. I know he was here. Where did he head off to?" Her nostrils flared as she picked up the scent of her prey, faint but definitely there. 'He must have detected my approach when the wind shifted' she observed, even more impressed.

The captain had frozen, prompting one of the guards to point a shaky finger towards the castle gate. "He left for the night ma'am, back towards the town. He seemed in quite a hurry." He barely avoided pissing himself as her gaze turned upon him before she nodded her head in thanks, her footsteps barely making a sound as she stalked off towards the gate herself. No one dared move, barely breathing until her form disappeared through the arch.

Naruto dropped down from where he had been clinging to the chandelier hanging from the ceiling, lightly brushing soot of his clothes that he had collected while hiding. "Thank you guys, you're all life savers. If you ever need anything from me, don't hesitate to ask."

The poor guard looked at the blonde with amazement. "What did you do to get her attention on you Sir Naruto? She's so frightening, I don't think I could stand being around her for any length of time."

Naruto shuddered as a tear slid down his cheek. Flashbacks about his night with the monstrous woman had started to come back to the surface due to his close encounter. "All I'll say about her is this. Don't ever put your dick in crazy. You might not get it back afterwards."

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Unaware of his brother's close encounter, Guts continued to shuffle through the castle gardens towards the base of the stairs leading to the fountain at the top of the hill. He saw Griffith sitting with the Princess on the fountain's base, the moonlight framing the two of them perfectly. A hand softly grabbed his arm, stopping him and pulling him back into the shadows. "You can't go up to them looking like that" Casca said as she pulled him down onto a bench before standing in front of him. "At least wait until they are done talking so you won't embarrass Griffith." Guts nodded docilely, not even reacting when she pulled his dagger from his belt. "I need this" she said in explanation before slitting the arms of her dress up to her shoulder. The strips of cloth she made were soon expertly wrapped around Guts arm, putting just enough pressure on the arrow wound to stanch the bleeding, but not cut off circulation.

The voices of the Princess and Griffith carried down to them from their conversation, prompting the two observers to stop and listen. The topics had shifted a few times before settling on Griffith's version of a dream and what men would do to pursue it. Then Griffith uttered the words that brought Guts breath up short, "Ultimately to be born and to then simply live for no better reason… I can't abide such a lifestyle."

Casca watched as her companion's breath hitched at those words. She was aware about how confused Guts already was after the conversation during the hunt, and knew this could easily make it worse for him.

"A wondrous person…" the Princess's voice carried over to her, a look of longing clearly visible in the young girls eyes as she stared at Griffith. "I imagine all of your friends too must have come far with you attracted by that charm." Casca stared at the cobblestones beneath her in confusion, angry at the Princess for her infatuation towards Griffith but unable to resolve if it was jealousy or something else.

"They are excellent troops" Griffith said softly. "Together we have faced death many times. They are valuable comrades devoting themselves to my dream that I envision. But to me, a friend is something else." Guts stood up as he heard those words, almost feeling like he was under attack but unable to do anything to fight back. Griffith continued on, unaware of his audience. "To me a friend is someone who wouldn't be compelled by anyone, but would determine and pursue his own reason to live. And should anyone trample that dream, he would oppose him body and soul… even if the threat was myself." He stood up, staring off into the night as a breeze slowly swept up his hair. "What I think a friend is, is one who is my equal."

Guts mentally reeled from the final verbal blow, a chasm now appearing in his mind between him and Griffith where before he felt they had stood together as friends. To Casca, he looked so lost and vulnerable that she was barely able to resolve that he was the same giant that would roam the battlefield with her. Guts started as he felt a pair of slender arms encircle his waist from behind him. He immediately recognized who the arms belonged to, slender and tanned as they were, crisscrossed with scars but not taking away from their overall beauty. He looked down, seeing Casca watching the two by the fountain with tears in her eyes as she hugged his waist. 'This must be terrible for her watching Griffith with someone else' he realized, feeling sorry for not recognizing it sooner and being the one to make her come here.

Casca was surprised when she felt herself pulled from behind Guts until she was flush to his chest. She felt his arms encircle her as she was pulled into a hug that practically hid her from the outside world and its pain. She had never felt so warm and at peace before as she began to relax into the embrace even further. Unfortunately this wasn't to last though as a startled maid rushed up to the Princess. "Your highness! It's a disaster! Your uncle Count Julius was assassinated in his manor! And his son, master Adonis has disappeared! The castle is in an uproar!"

The female commander of the Hawks felt the arms stiffen around her, before letting go. Guts turned without a word, walking back into the darkness like he was never there in the first place. 'No…' Casca thought to herself as she watched him disappear, 'He wouldn't have…'. Griffith meanwhile, watched the scene below him unfold, well aware of the audience that he had during his conversation. He felt like a royal ass hurting two of his most valued friends, but hoped that it might start the healing process and take them to somewhere better than the limbo they were both currently trapped in. He smiled to himself as he remembered the hug he saw the two share, amazed that Guts had initiated it. 'Maybe things weren't as bad off as I thought they were' he reflected to himself. 'Now I just have to convince Naruto that I did the right thing when he ears about it.'

 **A/N: Well the filler mini arc is done, on to the war again. I'll be concentrating on a chapter or two of 'Like the Galaxy wasn't Strange Enough' before I get back into this so I don't get jumped by angry Mass Effect fans. Hope you enjoyed this.**


	9. Chapter 9

You Have Your Demons and I Have Mine

Chapter 9: Casca 5, Males 0

"Attention good townsfolk!" Naruto raised his hands in the air as he shouted, drawing in more and more people from the crowded streets. He stood on a stack of crates in the middle of the two busiest streets of the capital's market. A cordon of Hawks surrounded his impromptu platform, giving him a few feet of space to work from without being mobbed. To say that Naruto's popularity had skyrocketed over the last year was like saying that Casca had a bit of an anger management problem… a complete understatement. The blonde couldn't make it more than a few feet outside these days without people greeting him and congratulating him for his latest successes.

"We love you Sir Naruto!" a woman cried from a few rows back in the crowd, a love struck look on her face. The call was echoed many times as more and more vied for his attention. An enterprising vendor tossed a rose up to the young man from his stand nearby. The blonde expertly caught the flower in his teeth before performing a deep bow to the crowd before taking the rose and tossing to the first woman that had called to him, causing said damsel to faint out of pure excitement from her brush with celebrity.

"Kiss my ass Guts" the blonde sniped down to his grinning brother who was part of the cordon, getting a middle finger in response before the large man turned back towards the crowd again. "Griffith should have handled this. I don't believe for a second that he some 'last minute war plans' to attend to" the blonde muttered before plastering a large grin on his face and re-engaging the crowd. "People of Windham, I have some good news, and I have some bad news. Which would you like to hear first?" Hundreds of voices answered at once, their voices drowning out any actual words and becoming a wall of noise that he could physically feel. Taking out a coin, Naruto made a show of flipping it and catching it in his hand. "Bad news first! As I'm sure the rumors have already told many of you, the Hawks will be leaving back for the battlefields now that spring has come. This means that the Hawk Watch will officially be disbanded starting tomorrow morning until a later time that we have returned to the capital." Many faces fell at the news, some showing something akin to dread as they recalled the high crime that plagued the market before the mercenaries had set up camp there. He made note of the subtle grins on a few of the faces, noting them in his memory later to have followed.

"Now the good news! I hope you don't think we plan on leaving you high and dry after you've been so good for us over the winter. Sir Griffith and I have trained a company of your fellow townsfolk in some of the Hawk styles of fighting and I've given them a crash course in law enforcement. Raise your hands guys!" Many hands within the audience shot up, each of the men sporting a small hawk talon pinned to their chest. "Take a look ladies and gentlemen. These people, The Hawkguard, will be around to help you. Now I've been instructed to tell you to bring all crimes to the city watch." He grinned at the disgusted sounds the crowd made, "I understand your feelings. The Hawkguard is just a militia though and has no authority, the same rules that the Hawk Watch operated under." He sent an over exaggerated wink to his audience. "That's all I have for you, enjoy the rest of your day. And if you see a Hawk, wish them luck. Thank you!"

He jumped off the crates, the boxes picked up by four of the Hawks to clear the road for the population again as they made for one of the alleyways that acted as a shortcut out of the city and back to the camp. Naruto and his brother leading the way as they walked side by side down the road with the group of fellow mercenaries trailing behind them. The two were both pushing six foot ten a piece at this point, though Guts was visibly wider in the shoulders and more muscular due to his constant training even during downtime. Naruto still had the body of a natural warrior, built just as much for speed as for strength. They towered over the townsfolk who parted for them as they moved down the road. "You did great Captain Naruto" the Raider's second in command Gastogne congratulated them. "Your presence was like that of a noble. They were practically eating out of your hand. Are you sure you aren't royalty?"

"Shut the hell up Gastogne" Guts admonished the man, having to raise his voice to be heard over the laughter. "Naruto comes from the same mercenary orphan scum that I do" he said with a proud grin. Pulling the blonde into a headlock he continued to walk down the road, not even registering his brother's attempts to free himself. "And you know the rules. We don't feed the strays and we don't give Naruto compliments. His head can't get any bigger or it won't fit in his helmet."

The men laughed at the joke, one taking the opportunity to give the blonde a swift kick in the ass in payback for the gambling losses the night before. Finally getting freed from his ogre of a brother, the blonde took a moment to fix his hair as he glared at the Raiders for not helping him at all. "I see how it is. I recruited over half of you and you repay me by siding with this dumbass" he pointed his thumb at his brother, fake tears running down his face. "Where's the loyalty?" he cried out, hands reaching to the sky in search of an answer.

Guts snorted at his brother's antics, bumping the blonde's shoulder with his own as they walked. It was the brother's version of a hug and was the farthest they were willing to go in public for showing any kind of affection towards each other. "You know the rules big brother. Raiders first, Hawks second. We look out for own." A cheer from his men rose behind him, bringing a smile to his face. "All joking aside guys" he called over his shoulder, "when we get out on the battlefield, Naruto is considered a Raider too. He gets the same treatment that we all do. Understood?"

"We already knew that Captain." one of his men called up to him as they moved along. "If you eat it out there, who do you think we'd fall in with? He's our backup plan." The man dodged to the side to avoid the rock Guts threw at him, before hiding behind Gastogne who was having trouble catching his breath from laughing so hard.

Naruto smiled at his fuming brother, elbowing him as they entered the camp. "Gambino taught us to always have a backup plan if things went south. Can't hate on them for being smart enough to do the same. It's the mercenary rule number two after all. Only 'money talks, bullshit walks' is more important." Stopping at the entrance to the camp, he took in the view before him. Organized chaos came the closest to describing the scene as thousands of Hawks worked to disassemble the infrastructure built up in the base that they had stayed at over the winter. Lodgings were torn down while the materials were saved, latrines were filled in, and arrowheads and horseshoes were policed from the ground for later reuse. Life in a mercenary unit had taught the men to waste as little as possible, money never being a sure thing for them. "Thanks for the help guys" he said to the Raiders as they began walking again. "Go take care of your own equipment, and if you need help procuring anything that Guts can't get you, let me know as soon as possible." The men cleared out, Gastogne giving Guts a pat on the shoulder before walking after them.

The blonde gestured to the berserker to follow him as they made for the center of the camp. "Lets go check in and get this over with. I still have to make my rounds with the rest of the men and I can't even imagine what you have to go through with over a two thousand guys directly dependant on you. Poor bastards" he lamented, getting a growl from his brother. "Did you ever follow up on asking Casca out like I told you to?" he asked, watching his brother flinch.

Guts sighed as he dodged around a wagon of supplies before speeding up his pace to catch up with his brother again. "You were reading into things that weren't there. She still has feelings for Griffith and I don't want to get in the way of that. She spent the better part of the winter pining over him and getting mad whenever he'd get invited to the royal palace for events. You didn't notice since you always had to go too" he pointed out, getting an understanding nod from his brother. "It's infuriating in a way. I'm used to people being straight forward when dealing with me. I don't understand how her brain can be so damn crazy all the time" He pushed aside a tent flap to keep following his brother. "It's like she can't fucking make her mind up about anything important to save her life!"

He stopped dead, finally noticing that he had entered the command tent, the rest of the Hawk leadership grouped around the map table as they stared at him. Naruto face palmed at his brother's obliviousness before making his way over to Griffith's left side, refusing to make eye contact with anyone. Guts scanned around for an empty spot before coming to the sickening conclusion that the only available space was between Casca and Griffith. He slinked over to it, not a minute going by before his foot was stepped on by a sharp heel causing him to wince. "Just who were you describing there?" Casca whispered up to him, eyes narrowed with the promise of future violence.

Before anything could escalate, Griffith took control of the meeting. "Thank you all for coming. I know we're all busy preparing for the march tomorrow with the rest of Midland's army so we'll keep this brief." He gestured for Naruto to lead off the meeting.

The blonde leaned on the table as he relaxed, comfortable with everyone in the room after years of working together. "I let the townsfolk know about us leaving and the making of the Hawkguard. They're firmly behind us for the foreseeable future so all of our good will built up over the last year won't be wasted. I also finalized our supplies while there. They'll be ready for pick up tomorrow morning as we make our way towards the gate."

"That's great and all" Corkus interrupted, standing on his tiptoes to try to gain a little height for talking eye to eye with both of the brothers as well as Pippin. Sometimes it sucked being on the shorter half of the room. "But what's the point of working so hard to have the regular people on our side? We never really cared about it before. Royalty pays us our wages and no commoner would ever stand up to a mercenary company. We could take what we wished."

Naruto shook his head at the man's naivety, holding back his caustic remark as he realized that was the view of most mercenaries in the world. The other commanders didn't necessarily agree with the view, but still were curious to understand the blonde's reasoning. "You're thinking too small time my friend" he said as he pointed at the map. Mercenary groups travel from point to point like the wind, never settling down for too long. So why plant roots if you don't plan on being there a week later right?" It was a rhetorical question, but Corkus still felt the need to nod as he followed along. The shit he learned from Naruto was stuff he never would think up on his own. "But here's the thing, how long have we been here? This is going on the second year now, participating in part of a hundred year war. We're signed up to be here until the thing is over, and even if that's a year from now there's no guarantee that we'll be moving on." He pointed at Judeau "tell me, who's been the go to command for any risky missions that couldn't be done by others?"

"Why, that would be the Hawks" his fellow blonde replied, a sly grin forming as he began to see where Naruto was going with his argument.

"Hell yes it is" the Headhunter nodded. "We're the elite here and you know what they do with the elite right?"

"Yes, we do" Griffith agreed as he addressed the table. "Look at what has already been done for Naruto and I. Midland considered the two of us dangerous enough that they gave us each lands and title to make sure we would never be turned on them. There are more of us that are close to achieving this as well" he said, glancing at Guts and Casca in turn. "Now what do you think they'll do for a mercenary company that played a lead role in ending the war favorably for them, especially after their military has been gutted due to a long campaign?"

A gasp came from Rickert as he came to the conclusion first. "You think they'll bring us into the army?"

Naruto shrugged "there's no guarantee, but it certainly matches Midland's way of thinking so far. If you can't beat them, have them join up and swear fealty. And that" he said turning to Corkus "is why we want the townsfolk on our side. We're planning ahead for if it becomes our new home. If it doesn't then no harm done." Corkus stood back, a giddy smile on his face as he imagined what he would be able to do with a title and wealth.

"Thank you Naruto" Griffith acknowledged, regaining the rooms attention while gesturing towards the map. "This campaign will be longer than most, ending hopefully with regaining the rest of Windham's lost territory. The king himself will be accompanying the army to ensure decisions happen in a timely manner. The route has been marked out on the map here and will be available for the rest of the day before we take this tent down. Everyone make sure to study it so you know what your part is. We break camp at dawn and prepare to march by mid morning. Be ready for some mind numbingly long days ahead. Our biggest job will be to keep tight discipline on the men until the first large battle. Keep everything discussed here a secret from the others. There is no point in starting rumors that might not come true. See to your units and report any issues. Dismissed."

"Naruto, stay back for a minute" he ordered as the tent began to clear out. He took a seat on a crate, joined by the blonde a minute later as the tent flap closed. "That wasn't the real reason that you worked so hard to get the common folk on our side." At the blonde's surprised expression, he pushed on, refusing to lose the momentum. "I think I've known you long enough by now to tell when you're bullshitting someone. Guts knows too but obviously didn't feel the need to push you on it. So I'm asking you now, what's the real reason?"

The blonde held up his hands in surrender "Fine, you got me. You're the real reason I did it Griffith." He laughed at the man's look of disbelief. "We both know you aren't stopping until you get a kingdom. You have the men, and now the title and some land. Next step is to make the Hawks a real elite army unit which is on its way already. What a kingdom needs to be real though is people. How many of those men and women would be willing to become your subjects now that you've proven that you're willing to provide safety and security to them. You've read the same books I have. You know how this works."

"But why?" Griffith questioned. He began to pace the room as his brain worked in overdrive to comprehend the blonde's plan. "I get your reasoning, but why are you doing so much to make it happen? The others all work hard too, but in the end they're doing it to look out for themselves first. It feels like you're putting my dream ahead of your own and I can't understand why."

"It's easy to get suspicious when something seems too good to be true. I understand your worry." The blonde ran a hand through his hair "in all honesty I don't know what exactly my dream is yet. I've had many of them over the years. I've wanted to find my real parents and ask why they abandoned me. I've wanted to travel the world, seeing different lands and learning the ways they live. I want to make sure my brother lives a full life happy and content doing whatever he loves, even if thats on a battlefield. He's the only family I have left after all. In the end, you're not the one taking the long view on this Griffith." The Commander of the Hawks stopped in mid step, confusion clearly written on his face. "Let's put all our cards on the table here. Guts and I joined the Hawks later on than the rest of the group. You know we don't have the same ties that the rest do right?" At Griffith's nod he continued "Then you also realize that one day we will move on to pursue our own goals right? What is the best way to make sure that works out? Doing it as a pair of mercenaries that can be slaughtered by any lord with a big enough army, or with the blessings of a king that we share deep bonds with? That's where my drive and selfishness come in to helping you become royalty. It can only help us in the end. Besides, you're one of my best friends Griffith. What kind of friend would I be if I didn't try to help you when I can?"

Griffith was floored at the admission, touched in a way that he couldn't ever remember feeling before. "Thank you Naruto, I consider you an equal and one of my best friends as well." He smiled at his friend before frowning for a moment at another of the points the blonde had brought up. "You know you don't get to leave the Hawks unless you beat me right? You'll have to earn your way out of this in battle, the same way you came in."

Naruto gave him a deadpan look before standing up and walking over to the white haired man. Stopping inches away from him, he looked down into his eyes with an intense gaze, which his commander returned in full. "I could take you anytime, anywhere Griffith. We don't follow you because you're strongest. We follow you because you win and because you look out for all of us and we trust you." He gave the man a light shove, smiling to break the tension. "And stop acting like you beat me in a fair fight. You kicked me in the damn balls to win. That's cheap as hell."

Griffith steadied himself before walking over to his gear. Drawing his sword, he held the tent flap open as he looked back at the blonde. "Well by all means Naruto, lets see what you can do. There's still a few hours of daylight and I know you don't need much time to pack since you always travel light. How about a quick spar to get the blood pumping?"

Naruto grinned in excitement as he unsheathed his sword and axe, stalking out of the tent and towards the ring as Griffith joined him. The two walked silently towards the fighting circle, intensity practically rolling off of them as they proceeded. The camp slowly fell silent as they watched the two men before frantic whispering started to spread. As Naruto climbed into the ring, he began to feel the eyes on him. Looking up from his weapons, he was greeted by over twenty thousand eyes. The entire camp had arrived to watch the historic event, no one willing to miss the clash of the titans as the two strongest awks readied for battle. Griffith couldn't help but smile as he realized the significance of what was going to happen. This would be the perfect setting to re-establish his authority over the Band of the Hawk. There were thousands of new members that had yet to see him in battle and only his reputation ensured their loyalty. Seeing was believing after all. 'Now there's just the problem of actually winning' he thought ruefully as he looked at his opponent. He would never admit it out loud, but it had been too close of a fight the first time they clashed and Naruto had only gotten better since then. "Let's keep it clean" he offered as they stood opposite each other in the ring. "No blood letting since we start the campaign tomorrow.

Naruto simply nodded, lowering himself down into a crouch to prepare. The crowd buzzed in excitement, anticipating the fight as bets were placed. "HOLD UP!" a voice boomed as a path was made way in the crowd, Guts vaulting the ring post before sliding to a stop in the mud. "There is no way in hell I'm letting this battle happen!" He slowly drew his sword, holding it over his head as a sadistic smile slowly formed over his face and his breathing quickened. "At least without me here. I've got a score to settle with both of you." He turned slowly, scanning the audience. "Anyone else have the balls to climb in the ring with us?!" he goading the men, confident that no one would want to fight the three strongest.

Naruto traded a look of alarm with Griffith as Pippin slowly clambered into the ring, followed by the equally large Tipon. "What?" the big man said at the surprised looks he was getting from his commanders as he pulled out his two handed battle axe. "The rest of the second suns would never let me live it down if I turned down a challenge like that." Pippin nodded silently in agreement as he hefted his mace.

The men formed a circle, examining each other for weaknesses as they waited for the first one to make a move. The three giants all stared at the blonde, the first victim apparently having been chosen. Griffith nodded to him, giving his condolences for dragging the blonde into this match that had spiraled so far out of control. 'Fuck my life' the blonde thought to himself, the feeling of being a cornered animal making him remember his fight with Zodd. Unbeknownst to the blonde, his hair had begun to look even wilder as the whisker mars on his cheeks started to darken. The betting was reaching a frenzied pace around the ring as men continuously changed who their favorite was.

A sharp whistle broke the spell over the ring, Casca climbing over the fence with a dark look on her face as she stalked towards the men. "I leave for one afternoon to get myself supplies and this is what the camp degenerates to? Have you lost your fucking minds?" She stretched up on her tiptoes, grabbing Guts' ear before dragging the swordsman down to her level. "You will not be fighting each other the day before we go off to war!" She shouted as she dragged Guts to the side of the ring, forcing the larger man to climb outside of it before relinquishing her hold. Turning back, she stopped before Pippen and Tipon, both big men looking anywhere but her direction. "You have three seconds to leave the ring before I end you" she promised them before holding up three fingers. She dropped one as the big men glanced at each other in alarm. A second finger dropped, the woman scowling even harder as she took a step towards the men. That was all it too for the two of them to break and run, the fence collapsing under them in their haste to get away from the psychotic female.

She faced Naruto next. Her hands on her hips as she inhaled a large breath, preparing to tear a chunk from his hide. The blonde brought up his hands in a T. the universal 'time out' gesture. "Before you say anything, let it be known that he challenged me" he said pointing at Griffith.

Said man's eyes widened at the betrayal shown by his friend. Casca's head whipped towards him, disappointment clearly written on her face as she walked towards him. He glanced over her shoulder, noting that Naruto was already gone. Then she was upon him, judgement dished out in such a heavy dose that even he could barely stand under its weight. "How could you Griffith?" she asked, her eyes watering as she gave him a sad look. "We worked so hard to get to this point. What could possibly be worth risking it all for a single fight?"

He sighed, logic defeating any counter argument he could possibly think up. "It was supposed to be a friendly duel between Naruto and myself to help with the morale. The others invited themselves and it snowballed. Thank you for de-escalating the situation Casca. I think I'll retire for the night." He turned, leaving the pit and heading for his tent. He would find Naruto and get his vengeance at a later date. This act would not be forgotten any time soon.

Casca watched him go, sighing to herself in relief before realizing that the camps' eyes were still on her. No one could believe that the Hawks' female commander was so fierce that she had intimidated the five best fighters of the group into giving up without a battle. Her mouth dried out as she frantically thought of something to say when loud cheers interrupted her. The camp whores, along with all of the female cooks and clothing menders all cheered their lungs out for her. They were thrilled to see a woman come in and lay down the law to the barbarians. The applause was slowly picked up by the rest of the group, no one brave enough to go against the popular opinion. "Casca! Casca!" they cheered. Said commander couldn't help but raise her sword in the air in victory.

XXXXX

"I can't believe that shit just happened!" Naruto lamented as he took another swig of ale from the cask he kept in his tent.

"I know" Guts growled as he passed his mug over for a refill. He had drug the two giants with him to join his brother in his tent. None of them had the urge to show their faces to the camp at that moment. The humiliation still hurt too much to think about.

"This is terrible" Tipon drained his mug in one pull, switching it out with the full one Naruto handed him. "I'm going to have to beat someone down to get my credibility back after this."

"Won't help" Pippin muttered as he lay on his back, looking up at the roof of the tent.

The blonde nodded in agreement as he took another drink. "That's true. You know damn well that news of this made it out of the camp minutes after it happened. There's no stopping it now."

"FUCK!" Guts raged, smashing his mug on the ground in frustration. "I was going to win! How the hell am I supposed to sleep at night knowing what I missed out on!?" He ignored the scoffs from the rest of the men, none convinced that he stood a chance against any of them.

The tent flaps fluttered as Griffith wandered in. "What the hell are we going to do?" he asked the others, accepting the mug handed to him by Tipon with a nod. "They're still out there cheering right now. It's been going on for an hour!"

Naruto leaned back against the tent post, his chin resting on his chest as he felt the alcohol begin to kick in. "I'll tell you one thing you're going to do. Next time we have a fight, make sure she is sent somewhere a day away first." The others cheered, mugs clashing together as everyone raced to join the blonde in the sweet freedom of intoxication.

Corkus walked by the tent, his head turned to watch the men drink themselves into oblivion before shrugging and continuing on. "You know" he remarked to Judeau, his partner for the patrol, "I could have taken all of them."

"Sure you could" Judeau said, patting him on the shoulder. "Sure you could."

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Naruto power walked through the castle halls, holding himself to one step away from full on sprinting. Tradition had it that on the morning of the campaign, all of the nobility would appear one by one before the king to pledge their fealty once again. Griffith had drug the blonde with him, intent on getting it over with as quickly as possible. Both of them still had massive hangovers from their activities the night before, though Naruto was happy to feel his heightened healing factor finally start to kick in and reduce the intensity. He had left immediately after the ceremony concluded, knowing that something stalked him in these halls. Something that he had managed to avoid for the last several months by staying as far away from the castle as humanly possible.

He turned a corner, spotting the end of the hallway that lead into the grand entrance of the castle. Freedom was just beyond. He began to relax, confident in his victory as he passed into the large room when a lithe arm snaked out from behind the curtain framing the doorway and landed on his shoulder. "Sir Naruto" he heard whispered into his ear as a hidden figure made itself known. He was trapped, like a fox cornered by a cougar, his instincts telling him to flee but not having anywhere to escape to. "I'm so happy I finally was able to 'catch you' here before you left." Lady Jessica purred out as she pinned him against the stone wall before leaning in and licking his ear playfully. "You allowed me to experience such pleasure the last time we were together. It's all I've been able to think about since then. We simply must find time to do it again. You mustn't keep a lady waiting after all." She leaned in, her face inches from his own. "I'd hate to think you were avoiding me"

Naruto shook his head frantically, memories of that night playing in his head as Jessica's scent brought primal instincts to the surface that he'd rather keep buried. "You'll never have to worry about that my lady. I doubt very much there is another woman out there that even comes close to what you are." His eyed the doorway, his mind flashing through numerous scenarios as he tried to think up anything to help himself escape.

The predator's eyes narrowed at the veiled insult, her nails digging into the back of his neck from where her arms still circled his shoulders. She smile as he yelped, relaxing as her point was made about who was in charge. "It's tradition for a knight to go into battle with the token of a lady for good luck" she explained while reaching into her cleavage. She slowly pulled out a lavender ribbon before passing it under his nose. His nostrils flared at the familiar smell, his body temperature beginning to rise as his pulse quickened. "I've kept that in a very intimate spot for the last three days so you might think of me while you're away in the war." Her smirk signaled her victory as she folded it up and tucked it into his collar.

"I do apologize Lady Jessica, but I will need a moment of Sir Naruto's time before he leaves my castle" a cultured female voice was heard coming from above them. Glancing up, Naruto was greeted by the sight of Her Majesty, the Queen slowly walking down the stairs accompanied by three of her handmaidens.

"Of course my Queen" Jessica gave a short bow, before leering at Naruto. "My business with Sir Naruto is finished until he is able to return to us. Good day" she curtsied before walking out the front door.

Naruto sank down to a knee, his head bowed as the Queen finished descending the stairs to stop a few feet in front of him. The hand maidens continued on, breaking off so each of them went through a seperate exit. Their intention to keep watch for their liege clear in their actions. "Rise up sir knight" she bid the blonde. "I would have words with you.

Naruto sighed in relief as he rose to his feet. "You have impeccable timing your majesty. You quite possibly saved me from a fate worse than death just now. I am in your debt."

The queen chuckled at his words, her smile hidden behind a fan she held infront of her face. "Surely you exaggerate Sir Naruto. I have known Lady Jessica since I first became a princess. She has been nothing but kind to me since then. Although I have heard rumor that you were recently defeated in the dueling circle by another woman. Perhaps your issue falls is that you are unable to fight back against the fairer sex?"

Naruto hung his head, unable to believe that it had only taken one night for the news of Casca's victory to travel all the way to the palace. "Well that explains the laughing during the ceremony" he mumbled, causing the Queen to giggle yet again. "I just have a healthy respect for how dangerous a woman can be your Majesty. Many men seem to forget the fact that a woman can be more dangerous than a man any day of the week if she is truly motivated. Those that can't learn that lesson don't survive too long out in the real world."

The queen nodded in approval, glad that there was a knight who understood just where he actually was in the hierarchy of power. Her fan snapped shut, allowing him to see her full face for the first time. She still possessed a great beauty, though age was beginning to creep in if you looked hard enough. "Your wisdom has earned my favor Sir Naruto." She reached behind her head, untying one of the many braids used to keep her hair in a tight bun. "Please wear this as a token of my blessing. I expect it back when you return from the war. We can talk about how you can serve me at that time." She finished tying the braid to his wrist before stepping back and snapping her fan open again. "Good day Sir Naruto" she said, receiving a bow from the blonde before walking towards the hall to the throne room. Her handmaidens fell into formation behind her again as if they never left her side.

Naruto waited until they had gone before sprinting away of the palace as fast as he could go. Decorum be damned, he wanted out before he was stuck into any more court intrigue. The guards watched him run, one turning to the other with confusion on his face. "Should we stop him? It's not proper for him to be running around the royal estate like that."

"You stop him" the other man mumbled, not moving from his spot. "That's the damn head hunter. What ever spooked a guy like that is not something I want to get in front of."


	10. Chapter 10

You Have Your Demons and I Have Mine

Chapter 10:

"Move Out!" Windham erupted in a roar of approval as Griffith kicked his horse into a cantor away from the capital, the rest of the Hawks following in formation behind him. The hopes and dreams of the people traveled with their new hero as he rode out to fight their war. Caska's position was behind him to his right, while the left belonged to Naruto. Said blonde watched as their leader played with his necklace as they rode along, his mind somewhere else entirely. Ironically the white haired knight's hand wasn't on the behelit this time, the red piece of jewelry dangling against his chest, bouncing to the canter of the horse. The leader of the Hawks was preoccupied with the knight made of lodestone gifted to him by the princess that had also been tied to the rope around his neck. Both of his most important objects that symbolized promises of a better future that he refused to part with for anything.

Naruto grunted at the sight, happy that Griffith wasn't so obsessed with the creepy red stone but nervous that it had been replaced with something that much more potentially dangerous. He observed Casca as she stared blatantly at Griffith, a small frown marring her otherwise beautiful features. She had sweat on her brow and was hunched forwards as if in pain. 'Not going to risk getting near that drama' he thought to himself. Clearing his throat to get his companions' attention, he hooked a thumb back over his shoulder. "We're far enough away from the castle to break formation. I'm going to keep an eye on the rest of the army. Send a runner if you need me for anything."

He was gone in a blink, a dust cloud showing his former position as his blonde hair receded into the distance. Casca turned her head as she heard Griffith chuckle, causing him to shake his head in mirth. "He just did that to escape to the baggage train" the commander explained. "He'll probably take a nap in one of the carts for the next few hours."

"What?!" Casca exclaimed in outrage, not wanting to believe the statement but knowing the blonde too well to expect anything less. "Like hell he is! I'm not letting that worthless blonde bastard get away with that on the first day of the campaign." She wheeled her horse around, charging back down the side of the marching men, her eyes peeled for the blonde slacker.

'Too easy' Griffith reflected to himself as he rounded the first bend as they approached the beginning of the forest.

Just ahead of him, Naruto sat on his horse, a huge smile spread across his face. "Did she take the bait?" he asked as he nudged his horse forward, pulling up next to his friend.

"She'll be back there for hours checking every cart and wagon" Griffith confirmed, looking over his shoulder at the men on horseback who followed him. "Not a word…" he warned the first row who all sported matching grins as they watched the interaction of their favorite leaders.

"Of course not Griffith" one of the men confirmed before turning to the blonde. "Just one question though… How exactly does Naruto plan on surviving past the next few hours when she makes it back up here and finds him?"

The blonde shrugged, unconcerned about the future issues. "Not a big deal really. I've had my share of avoiding powerful women over the last few years as I'm sure the rumors have mentioned." The chuckles he got confirmed that his shame had become public knowledge thanks to Lady Jessica making multiple trips to the Hawks camp to try to locate him. He had barely been able to escape, disappearing for a few days before she would give up and return to the courts. "When I hear her coming back, I'll just head for the carts. It'll be the perfect time to catch a nap." Laughter sounded from the men behind him, echoing down the line as the event was spread by bored and gossipy soldiers.

The blonde grinned unrepentantly at his boss's exasperated look, pulling an apple from a passing tree and tossing it to his leader before grabbing one for himself. "So what's the deal with the new jewelry?" he asked, gesturing towards the necklace.

XXXXX

"Why the hell are we doing this again?" Tipon asked as he pulled another barrel from the cart before handing it off to Guts. The berserker grunted as he adjusted to the weight before the giant stabbed the back of the barrel with a dagger. A thick black liquid began to leak out, dribbling on the ground as the man walked along a set path marked out by sticks on the ground.

"We're doing this because the scouts spotted Tudor's army approaching us about a day away" the Headhunter of the Hawks shouted back as he and Pippen drained out their own barrels farther up the line. "Whoever gets to choose the battlefield, gets to set the tempo of the battle. I convinced Griffith that I had an idea worth trying and we're setting up for it right now. So pick up a barrell and get the hell back to work! We only have one more hill to do this on and we're done."

"No, I get the purpose of why this is happening" Tipon tried to reason, unwilling to get the blonde angry with him. "I just don't see why I have to be out here doing this. The battle starts in a few hours once the other army arrives and I should be getting the Second Suns ready to go."

"Oh, well that's different" the blonde exclaimed, much to the big man's relief that he hadn't brought down the ire of the camp's prankster on himself. "You're out here because your big ass is one of only four guys strong enough to help pull this off. If I let the rest of those scrawny bastards assist us, we'd be out here all day. It's your own damn fault for being so huge anyways. And stop acting like your men would fall apart without you. We all know they're some of the most competent Hawks around. It's why you're always slacking or training instead of managing them." He threw his empty barrel over the side of the cliff into the river raging at its base. "I swear you guys are going to love this when it happens. I'll explain the details at the command meeting once we finish. Now everyone back in the cart so we can move on."

"You better be right about this being worth it brother" Guts threatened as he rolled his shoulder to work out a kink. "This battle is pretty much a sure thing already for us considering who we're up against."

"Ah, my dear little brother" Naruto countered with a grin as he hefted himself up into the driver's seat. "You misunderstand the purpose of this. History and infamy aren't made just by winning a battle, but _HOW_ you win the battle. If this goes right, the Hawks will make such a statement that armies will fear us before we even step onto the battlefield from now on." He giggled dementedly to himself as he cracked the reins, ignoring the disturbed looks the other men shot him at his unbalanced moment. 'I can't greet an old friend without making sure he is well received after all…'

XXXX

'Fuck my life' General Adon thought to himself as he sat upon his mount, at the head of his forces as they looked at their opposing counterparts across the battlefield. Each army stood atop a grassy hilltop with a large valley in between them. Storm clouds gathered overhead, blocking out the late afternoon sun and bathing the battlefield in a dark grey haze. A sheer cliff bordered one side, while the other was covered in more hills. 'A potential chance for flanking attacks' the man noted to himself before turning his gaze forward again. When his superior, General Boscogn, turned down his request for a transfer, Adon had no idea what his future would hold. He had been informed that he would be leading a key battle to regain his honor while defending Tudor's gains. What they hadn't told him was who he would be facing. 'Fucking Hawks!" he snarled to himself, drawing looks from the men stationed behind him as bodyguards. "Keep an eye out boys" he told his men, "the Headhunter is on the field tonight."

'Looks like it's time' he reflected to himself as the commander of the Hawks, Sir Griffith, strode forward to signal his army. Adon mimicked the move, ready to send forth Tudor's pride into battle. All of a sudden, a second knight in a black ensemble came forward to stop next to Griffith. Their armor contrasted sharply as the two men appeared to speak, as if symbolizing both the good and evil that the Hawks were capable of. The general of Tudor watched the exchange take place in confusion before the White Hawk appeared to pat the black one on the shoulder. The Black Hawk rode forward to the middle of the battlefield at the center of the valley before dismounting his horse and taking his helmet off.

Adon's personal boogeyman flashed a wide grin at him before reaching into his satchel and pulling out a single match. "It's a pleasure to see you again general!" the Headhunter's voice boomed across the battlefield, easily heard by both armies as they watched the show. "I missed you last time and we didn't get a chance to play!" His smile stretched from ear to ear as he raised the match up in front of him, causing his victim to break out in a cold sweat. "Let's set up the game board so we can begin!" With that, the blonde struck the match against his armor before dropping it to the ground by his side. As soon as the flame hit the ground, the fire ignited something. A small path of flames sped away from the boy towards the hills to the side, before turning sharply towards both armies. Now the flames grew higher and thicker, rising to the chest of a mounted knight as they roared to life. The blaze continued to where each of the group of fighters stood before curving around the back of Tudor's army and igniting the hill side behind them in one large inferno. Horses screamed in panic as men tried to bring their mounts back under control. "We're ready to begin!" the blond nightmare called out. The evil grin was still plastered on his face, but now looked even more intimidating as the firelight danced across his face and armor. "There's no retreat for you Tudor dogs tonight. Your only way out is through the Hawks, or off the cliff. How many of you are too cowardly to take the way of the warrior?" The Hawks cheered loudly as he put his helmet back on and remounted his horse.

Adon's watched as Griffith raised his hand, sending his army forth before trailing his gaze to the valley again, only to find the Headhunter gone from sight. His eyes flew open in panic as he scanned everywhere, desperate to find his tormentor. "General?" one of his men questioned, snapping him back to reality as he watched the enemy getting closer.

"Charge!" he bellowed at the top of his lungs, throwing his trident forwards as his men surged around him in their rush to head to battle. Thinking quickly, he joined his men near the middle of the rush. There was no way he was marking himself as an easy target by staying behind with the command section. They would have to make do without him, it's why he trained them to act independently after all. The charge continued to speed up past what he had trained the men to do, bewildering him as to what was going on. It struck him suddenly at just how insidious the Headhunter's plan truly was. His men's horses refused to listen to their rider's commands to slow down as they sped away from the flames behind them, causing his men to be spread out instead of in the organized ranks that they were used to. No one survived a battlefield fighting as an individual. Glancing over his shoulder, he found his hill empty. The sub-officers choosing to join the battle instead of braving the flames to try and coordinate strategically.

Any more long term thoughts were ceased as the armies clashed together like a hammer and anvil, the noise deafening as tens of thousands of men locked blades in mortal combat. The fight seemed to be going well enough for the first hour, both sides surging before being driven back, neither making any real headway. All semblance of command soon broke apart as battle fatigue begin to set in though, the lines breaking away into a giant melee combat as the fighters began to develop tunnel vision. General Adon had no real trouble up to this point. The Hawks he had come up against so far easily fell to the reach of his trident mixed with his monstrous strength. He hadn't been nearly as effective as he wanted to be though, constantly keeping an eye out behind his back incase a certain black knight decided to make his presence known.

Adon watched as his men began to slowly falter, losing ground as the individual defeats began to to add up on the whole. He needed something to boost their morale if they were to stand any chance at winning this battle, a significant victory to energize his men while demoralizing the enemy. His eyes scanned the field, zeroing in on a fierce battle between one of his shock troops and a small Hawk near the cliff face. The headdress of the hawk signified an important officer and only the female Hawk could have a build that slight. He grinned to himself as he speed off. 'Perfect.'

XXXX

'Gods!' Casca bemoaned in her head as she ducked another mace swing from her opponent, 'why did it have to happen today of all days?' Her monthly cycle had kicked in harder than normal over the past twenty four hours, leaving her feeling wrecked directly before the battle began. There had been no other option but to grit her teeth and try to push through the pain. Abandoning your men was anathema to any Hawk commander, even Corkus would never consider it. She regretted the decision though, every time she bounced in her saddle, every time she clenched her muscles to swing her sword, and every time her vision swam from the blood loss and fever she was forced to endure from the heavy physical activity.

She felt weak as a kitten, severely hampering her fighting ability. Casca was forced to deflect and evade blows that she could previously shrug off, forcing her to look for openings in her opponents to exploit instead of making her own as she did before. Speaking of which… she ducked under her opponent's powerful horizontal swing. Part of her helmet's feather flew off due to the near miss as she found herself facing a perfect gap in his heavy armor directly over his armpit. She stabbed her sword halfway into the man's chest, letting gravity do the work of pulling her weapon back out as he slipped from his saddle and fell lifelessly to the ground.

Taking advantage of a lull in the battle in her area, Casca leaned on her horse as she calmed her breathing. A shadow fell over her, causing her to sit back up and look for it's source. The Tudor general, Adon, sat across his warhorse as he gazed down at her. "So you're her… The woman who commands thousands of the Band of the Hawk." Casca said nothing, refusing to engage in pointless banter with someone whose she didn't expect to be alive in a few moments. She knew Naruto's policy was to keep the fool alive, but she was in no mode to cater to the blonde's whims today. Adon continued on, unaware of her thoughts. "I can't stomach it. A woman playing at being a knight… Women are inferior to men in strength. What use could they be in a battle? You must have a use as a nighttime plaything for your fellow soldiers."

Casca bristled at what the fat fool was implying, unable to completely ignore his bluster. "What was that?" she snarled at him, raising her sword.

Adon grinned behind his helmet. His taunts were having an effect of throwing this woman off balance. Just one more push was needed. "Perhaps you even achieved your rank of commander by sneaking into that man Griffith's bedroom?"

Her nostrils flared at what the bastard was implying. She wanted nothing more than to remove his head from his shoulders for daring to say she didn't work just as hard as anyone else in the Hawks. But she wouldn't give him the benefit of her losing cool, dealing with Naruto's brand of mayhem for years having hardened her tolerance. "Perhaps, or perhaps not. Tell me though oh great general, how is it you managed to retain your rank considering your track record? The first time you encountered a Hawk, your base was burned and you ran screaming like a child. The second time was no better, you lost your castle and had to float down the river on a raft." She paused, sniffing the air in an exaggerated motion. "I especially feel sorry for your horse considering your habit of shitting yourself on the battlefield. Is that why you chose one already brown colored to begin with?" A ghost of Naruto appeared next to her, giving her a thumbs up as it wiped an imaginary tear away after hearing such a perfect taunt.

Adon roared, blindly charging at her with his trident raised above his head. It would have been the perfect opening for her if she could move quick enough. Reality was much more cruel though. Her abdominal muscles shose the perfect moment to heavily cramp, causing her to double over in pain. She barely was able to stop his blow from splitting her head open, the power behind it knocking her helmet clean off of her head as she was knocked from her horse. She hit the ground rolling, barely able to avoid his follow up blow, the trident stabbing into the ground directly between her legs where her torso had been a moment ago. The oaf started spewing more bullshit from his mouth while spinning his trident over his head. Casca promptly ignored all of it, using the moment of respite to catch her second wind. It was a smart move considering she spent the next few moments barely dodging a series of attacks from her mounted opponent. His surprising skill and superior reach and positioning were making it so she could barely defend herself, let alone find a moment to counterattack.

"Big Sis!" "Commander Casca!" Four of her men had spotted her situation, racing forwards to try to save her before it was too late. They were new, joining up in one of Naruto's recruiting drives just a few months ago. The blonde had personally walked them up to her, assuring her that they were the ones that showed the most promise from the tournament and had potential to be great under her command. She had been skeptical, but had been pleasantly surprised numerous times as they excelled at whatever task she had given them.

"Fools! Keep back!" she desperately shouted at them, not wanting their lives thrown away in some futile gesture. They continued forward, their decision already made and minds determined to see it through. The intention was good, but their opponent's skill was just too great. Adon dodged the first two blows as they rode by, choosing to parry the third and using his armor to block the fourth. Once they had gathered around him to press their attack, he swung his trident in a full rotation around his head. The sharpened edges easily cleaving through the light cavalry armor and leaving four bodies to fall from their mounts. Casca's heart broke at the pointless loss, but was only given a moment to grieve before the sharp point of the trident was held against the center of her chest.

She slowly moved backwards as it pressed into her, almost caressingly, until her heels stood at the edge of the cliff. "I'll give you one chance to save yourself" Adon said in what he considered a smooth voice. "Come back to my camp and be a play thing for my soldiers."

Casca knew some fates were worse than death and gave his offer all the consideration it deserved. "Go to hell dog!" she growled, spitting on the ground in front of his horse.

General Adon sat calmly, digesting her rebuttal for a moment before his face screwed up in a sneer and he hefted his trident above his head. "Than you can die!" he shouted, preparing for his death swing. Casca ducked her head, unwilling to watch the killing blow. A large clang alerted her to her continued life, prompting her to bring her head back up in curiosity. Her hope blazed back to life as Guts sat on his horse in front of her, his sword almost casually blocking the general's weapon.

Growing bored of the lull in action, Guts flexed his muscles and shoved Adon away from him. The strength difference was so great that the general's mount was forced to backup less it lose its balance with it's top heavy cargo. "You… lout!" Adon gasped as he righted himself again, preparing for a hard fight.

"Come on!" the berserker roared out, before calming enough to get his words across. "Anyone will do… I just feel like swinging this with all my might" he hefted his sword. "Until I can't think about anything else." He had enjoyed the single mindedness of survival that his brain had fallen into while on the battlefield and hoped that this enemy leader could keep it alive for a little longer.

"You stopped my attack well!" Adon shouted, playing along as his mind raced for the best solution. He had noticed that the rest of his men had been pushed back, leaving himself isolated with the enemy. "But lightning doesn't strike twice! Can you stop this?" He began to spin his trident above his head again, moving his wrist side to side to make it's range seem larger. "The ultimate spear technique, which can crush even marble. Passed secretly down Coborlwitz family for one hundred and forty years!" He raised the weapon above his head, tensing his muscles "Take this!"

Guts' answer was to bring his sword down directly in the center of Adon's helmet. The armor bending around the heavy weapon while the trident snapped in two, unable to hold against it's weight and force. Adon pitched out of his saddle, stumbling to his feet as he tried to gather his wits. Guts' follow up swing took him in the right side of his face, peeling the helmet off the rest of the way while knocking out a handful of teeth and crushing the man's cheekbone for good measure. The Hawks cheered at the battle's result as Guts steered his mount back around to Casca, who still stood in place at the cliff edge. "What's wrong?" he growled out at her, frustrated with the fact that he had to come to her rescue. "Your fighting's horrible. You'll wind up dead if you're out of it."

Casca didn't respond, continuing to stare out into space. To his panic, she began to fall backwards over the cliff in a faint. "Hey!" he roared as he flung himself from his saddle, desperately trying to reach her. He went over the side after her, barely managing to clutch her to his chest with one hand while holding onto the cliff edge with his other. He felt his fingers slipping, unable to hold up their combined weights as well as his sword. As he lost his grip, a hand took hold of his wrist, stopping him from falling farther. He looked up to see his brother's grinning face, struggling to hold up the weight as he used his other hand to stop from falling as well. Guts couldn't help but snark at the situation "Where the hell were you during all of this?"

"Oh, you know" The blonde retorted back, grunting as he strained his muscles. His brother and Casca slowly began rise back up. "I did take down all thirteen of his captains and lieutenants, causing his lines to shatter and let Griffith roll them up. No biggie." Guts rolled his eyes, leave it to his brother to always try to one up him.

Gut's had just been pulled to eye level of the cliff when tried to alert his brother. "Watch out! Behind you!" Naruto felt a stinging in his right ass cheek, slowly turning his head to find a bolt sticking half way out of it. He spied General Adon throwing the crossbow over his shoulder, attempting to whistle through his broken teeth as he tried to avoid looking suspicious. Before he could seek righteous vengeance, said leg muscles seized up. Falling down on his chest, he tried to find purchase in the ground with his free hand but continued to slide towards the edge. Guts saw what was happening and tried to break free of his grip. "Let go!" he roared, thrashing his head back and forth. "You'll fall too!"

Naruto simply shook his head as he locked eyes with Guts as he strengthened his grip on his brother's wrist. The blonde's fingers drug through the dirt as he slowly slid over the cliff. "We're brothers Guts. I'll always have your back." He turned his head towards Adon, who was already making tracks to an abandoned horse in an attempt to flee. "This isn't over yet fatass! I will find you and I WILL shove my sword up your ass in retaliation for that cheap shot!" With that Naruto's grip crumbled, sending him over the side. Guts pulled Casca to his chest, curling up around her as they neared the river. He watched his brother bounce off the side of the cliff, cringing at the way his back bowed over a branch sticking out of the wall. Then everything was black as he fell in the water, the chill numbing him to his bones as he tried to figure out which direction led to the surface.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In a dark cave, a tall blonde man with whisker marks lay unconscious. To his right, a ruined double gate swung loose on its hinges, the section of cave behind it swallowed in darkness. A single red eye with a slitted pupil revealed itself, lazily looking around the room before its gaze fell on the blonde. " **It's still too soon for us to meet yet kit. Wake up and return to your family**." The voice echoed off of the cave walls before gradually fading away down the halls connected to it. A large red paw slowly came out of the darkness, a single claw lowering to touch the man's head. Once they connected, the blonde disappeared in a flash of light leaving the other being alone once again. The red eye closed again as it went back to sleep to await the coming days.

XXXX

His ears were the first sense to begin working again. The sound of the water telling him that he was still near the river but not in it anymore. A faint rustle of the ground being disturbed told him he wasn't alone either. Naruto's eyes slowly opened to slits, not possessing the energy needed to achieve full vision. A shadowy form crouched over him, it's silhouette fitting the size of either a woman or young man. Suddenly the figure stood up straight, it's head turned to the right as if scanning for something. A crash in the woods, metal on metal, soon echoed through the forest. What appeared to be large feathered wings shot out from the figure's back. The individual crouched down before leaping in the air out of the blonde's vision, it's head never leaving the direction that the noise came from. Naruto blinked hard trying to bring everything into focus before another wave of dizziness passed over him. Laying his head back in the soft earth, the blonde fell into a deep sleep as his body worked to heal itself. He was unaware of the carnage that occured around him as he slept.

 **A/N: I know it's short, but the plot needs to keep moving. Guts is about to set a Hawks record for homicide and manslaughter and some weird shit is going on with Naruto. Hope you enjoy.**


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